


All Your Good Intentions

by Five_seas



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: F/M, PTSD, Recovery, Redemption, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-10-28 07:37:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20774936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Five_seas/pseuds/Five_seas
Summary: The Red Ranger didn't think any punishment was necessary. But he is just one Master.Camille and Jarrod struggle to find their way after the final battle. Redemption is a hard road - harder still when you're dealing with false memories.Sort of sequel to "Make the Night". Set after the end of the show.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Power Rangers.
> 
> Content warning: This chapter discusses themes of suicidal ideation and violence.
> 
> Sequel to Make the Night.

He swam in and out of consciousness, as voices - some familiar, others not - floated through the fugue.

“He’s taken a lot of damage…”

“…are you sure he’s not epileptic…”

“…if you don’t have anything to add, go and help someone else.”

Camille.

Jarrod struggled to open his eyes, tried to push himself up. Only to have soft hands shoving him back down, and her voice, firm and resolute, echoing straight into his skull. “Rest, you moron. You’re safe.”

But was she? Or were they back in Dai Shi’s compound, back for another regroup? Was this what happened when his mind finally broke? Would he be reliving the worst days of his life, over and over again, until the end of time?

Then the pain hit - sharp and all too real - and for once, he could allow himself to just lay there and feel.

*

Camille had not expected her skills to be needed quite so close after the final battle, but as it turned out, the Pai Zhua had little in the way of healers. Or a working medicine cabinet.

She didn’t know what had happened quicker - her, rushing to get her supplies from the wrecked palace, or Jarrod going into a seizure so violent that his body had contorted in on itself. No-one, it seemed, knew what to do exactly. No-one, but Camille.

And then, as if taking care of him hadn’t been hard enough, the effects of the battle caught up with the rest of the rangers. The old Masters, first, and then the younger ones too. Between tending to cracked ribs, setting popped shoulders, and sewing up sword cuts, Camille had barely time to get a drink of water, let alone worry about the future.

It wasn’t until late in the night that she finally sat down next to Jarrod’s bedside - exhausted and weary, but so grateful to be alive, she could have cried. 

Jarrod’s brow was sweaty and he was shaking under the blanket, but that, at least was expected. His body was dealing with a great amount of stress, and now that he was finally safe, it was finally starting to heal itself.

She sighed and pulled the covers tighter around him. This was going to be a long night.

“I take it he’s still fighting?” 

Camille jumped a little, but stayed in place, as Master Swoop pulled a chair next to hers.

“You really should rest that leg,” she said. “I didn’t just spent thirty minutes bandaging you up so that you could hobble yourself at the first opportunity.”

“I will take the risk,” Master Swoop said.

She felt suddenly uneasy. She’d been running around all day - and the day before - without further thought about what might happen from one minute to the next. She’d been fully expecting to be destroyed; after all, traitors did not fare well when they were between two warring factions. But now, here she was. And while Jarrod had once been Pai Zhua, she was not. 

What if Swoop was here to cast her away? Or throw her into a dungeon? Or…

“Camille, may I take your hand?”

She balked.

“My… hand?” Did he want to cut it off? 

“I’m an old blind man,” he said. “I’m afraid I don’t have as many tools at my disposal as these younglings to tell when someone is happy or sad.”

And what did that have to do with anything?

Still, he hadn’t pulled a weapon on her yet and she was still in an infirmary. Feeling like she was about to have a house dropped on her, Camille reached out to him.

Swoop gripped her wrist, but not too hard. He ran his thumb over the top of her hand, then turned it over and did the same for the palm as well.

“A lot of scar tissue,” he said. “And a few broken bones. Set well, of course, but you can still feel the old fissures. And…” he continues upward, gripping her index finger carefully. “Hm. Something happened there. Did you claw at a wall? Or did someone pull this out?”

“Both happened.” Camille felt dizzy. He could tell all of that?

“You can make the best illusions in the world,” Swoop said. “But you cannot deceive all of the senses. You carry a lot of old pain in your hands Camille. It’ll take a long time to heal.”

She gritted her teeth.

“And now you are angry.” He put her hand on the bed in front of them, then sat back. “You are wondering, perhaps, what is to become of you.”

“I suppose that I am,” she said busying herself with wringing another rag and wiping Jarrod’s face. 

“You are right to be,” he said. “You did a lot of things in your time as Dai Shi’s general that cannot be overlooked.”

“And one betrayal does not make up for it,” she finished. “I know. So what’s my punishment then?”

Swoop tapped the top of her hand. “You gave up your immortality today - and a lot of your own power - for the sake of helping your once sworn enemies. Some people would say this is punishment enough.”

“Not you, though.”

Swoop smiled. “Healing does not happen overnight.”

And that was just the scars in her hands. Camille did not want to think of the damage she’d left on other people’s psyches - on Jarrod, or otherwise. Dai Shi had used them as foils until the end. Sometimes, it was easy to believe a foil was all she would ever be. 

She set the rag down. “I don’t like it when people talk in riddles. I don’t like uncertainty. If you think I’m beyond redemption, just say so.”

“I have rarely met anybody who was beyond redemption,” Swoop said. “But I will say this - the ones that truly did not recover lost faith in themselves long before anybody else did.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s why I… oh, never mind.”

Swoop did not push her to finish what she’d said, letting her stew quietly for a while. When he spoke next, his voice was measured:

“Redemption is a thorny path with no guaranteed payoff or time line. You will both be tested sorely. If this is too much for you, Camille, then we can seal you back into that compound wall. You will not have to fight or re-examine anything about what you did in the last Beast War. Or this one either.”

That did sound tempting. At least then she’d have all the time she wanted to mope.

_Promise me you’ll live, _ Jarrod had asked, that morning before the final battle. Would he forgive her if she took the coward’s way? Or would he understand eventually that it was the only logical conclusion?

Knowing him, it would be the former.

“I’d like a chance to live,” she said. “You can seal me in the wall anytime.”

Swoop smiled. “You should try to get some sleep, Camille. Tomorrow’s not going to be any easier.”

*

Eventually, he did find sleep - true sleep, deep and uninterrupted. Nightmares lurked at the edge of his consciousness, but they were kept away. By what? He did not know, and he did not care.

Every time awareness crept in, sleep pulled him under again, and again, and again. The only thing that bothered him - the only thing that drew him to the surface - was the uncertainty. Was he truly safe? Or was this just another mind game?

“…time yet?”

“…I object strongly…”

“…is noted and overruled.”

The snippets of conversation that floated through the fog didn’t help matters either.

When he did wake - staring into the familiar ceilings of the Pai Zhua academy - his body ached as though he’d been ran over. So… he was alive. And he was - for the first time in what felt like ages - truly alone in his head, without the imminent threat of possession. 

He was alone in a curtained off area - unguarded, and unrestrained. He could get up and leave…

…correction, he thought, as he shifted in bed. He could get up and leave as soon as his chest stopped hurting, and his left arm stopped feeling like it had been stuffed with cotton.

The air shimmered and shifted, before Master Mao took his regular form in front of him.

“That didn’t take you very long, I see,” he said, as he walked around the cot to stand by Jarrod’s head.

“Master…” he wanted to get up, and bow… possibly prostate himself as he should have the second he had full awareness of himself. But in his present state, he could only musted a shamed nod. “I’m sorry. I—”

“Do you know why I’m here, Jarrod?”

“To… to punish me, of course.”

“No.”

“To… inform me that I’m being banished again?”

“No.”

“Guilt me into peeling potatoes in for the next three years?”

Master Mao smiled. 

“It’s not the potato peeling, is it?”

“How do you feel, Jarrod?”

Terrible. Worse than he ever thought a human being could feel. The guilt suffocated him whole. “Er… better than expected, all things considered.” He shifted again, careful not to put too much pressure on his back. The pain was there… just not as strong as he thought it would be, considering that he’d fallen from a great height. His arm… he had sensation in it, but it was weak. And the side of his face throbbed. “Did… did Camille give me one of her knock-outs again? Is that why I was asleep for… for so long?”

“Knock outs, you say?” Master Mao asked.

Jarrod nodded. “She… she used to do this in Dai Shi’s compound.” Clearly, his old teacher hadn’t been filled in on this yet. Frowning, the younger man noticed the empty chair by his bedside. “She was here, wasn’t she? I didn’t imagine her voice?”

“She’s been in and out of the infirmary since the final battle,” Master Mao said. “Tending to the wounded. As far as efforts to make amends, it was a good start on her behalf.”

He knew she would do this, Jarrod thought, heart swelling with misplaced pride. He knew it.

“We thought Casey was the one to bring you back,” Master Mao said. “But we were only partially right, weren’t we? We have her to thank as well.”

Jarrod nodded. “I’d have never made it without her. Please… Master, I will take any punishment you deem fit for me. Camille has a good heart. Give her a chance to prove it.”

“You should worry about your own situation, you know. She’s capable of making her own decisions.” But his old Master was smiling, and Jarrod couldn’t help but feel hopeful. 

*

His hope… lessened a fair bit in the days that followed.

Although his bandages got changed and his wounds got better, he never saw Camille, nor did he speak to anybody who had. He suspected she was slipping something in the water to make him drowsy, but even when he refused a drink, his exhaustion always got the better of him. He spent most of the time knocked out - recovering, yes, but also missing her terribly.

The dreams crept in too - nightmares about Dai Shi’s compound, the Dark Master’s voice in his head. Camille’s face, first tender, then becoming fearful, before all emotion got wiped away from her features. He saw himself punishing her… hurting her… killing her… then he woke up, only for the nightmare to resume the second he closed his eyes. 

He would have felt better, if he could just see her, see that she was alive and well. Even a glimpse in the distance would have been enough.

But no. The only glimpses he got were of himself - in the windows, or in the bathroom tiles when he finally managed to hobble over there. He had done a number on himself alright - the bruises were bad enough, but he’d managed to even split his head somehow, causing Camille to do some emergency surgery on him. He thought wryly that at least now he was as ugly on the outside as he was on the inside, but the joke felt weak - especially when it was clear the one he wanted to see the most was avoiding him.

He did get stronger by the day, though. Within a week he could sit up and even walk around the infirmary by himself. He was still largely isolated, but there was no lock on his door, no guard stationed outside. 

Really, he was his own worst warden.

Then one night, another possibility occurred to him. 

What if he never saw her because she’d been sent away? What if she had left by her own volition? What if they’d locked her in the same box as Dai Shi because they didn’t trust her? 

He sat there, quietly panicking, when a little man ambled into the infirmary.

“Oh! Lord Dai… I mean, Jarrod!” he yelped. “Apologies. I was looking for… err… never mind.”

Jarrod stared at him, trying to figure out where he’d seen him before. He was small-boned and twitchy-looking, with a handsome face and a scraggly beard. One of the Masters? But surely he would be able to remember him?

Wait, what had he just called him?

“Are you… Flit?” he asked. 

“Oh! Oh, no, you remembered me. I’m sorry, I was just… er, yes, that’s me. Hello.”

He blinked at him. “You’re… human.”

“Oh, yes. Well, mostly so, although I do wish I had aged a bit more gracefully.” Flit laughed, high and nervous. “My body has retained some of my old powers, plus a thing or two from my curse, but those things aside, I am indeed, 100%, or… that’s incorrect… 79% human. Ahem.”

Jarrod kept frowning.

“Um… I also feel the need to point out, M… Jarrod, that I am also now under the protection of the Pai Zhua. And… er… as such, any complaints about my commentary on you or… er… Camille… need to be taken to Master Mao.”

“You think I want to… fight you?” Jarrod asked, unable to quite believe his ears.

“Well, I don’t know for sure. Your… reputation is not that great around here. I wasn’t sure… well… well…”

He really did think that.

Although, in all fairness, his reasoning was not that far off the mark.

“I’m not in a shape to fight anybody right now.” He gestured toward his still-weak hand. “And I have no wish to, either. Whatever complaints you had against me, they were justified.”

“Oh… er… well, then, I suppose I shall leave you alone, shall I?”

Jarrod opened his mouth, then nodded. Who was he to demand people’s time? But Flint took one step out, then turned around sharply. “Look,” he said, walking over quickly to Jarrod’s bedside and sitting down. “I’m not usually the type of guy to ask this… but I’ve got to ask this… you and Camille did the nasty, back in the compound? It wasn’t… Dai Shi, was it?”

And now he was wishing the other man had just left.

“I take it back,” he said. “Some of your remarks were highly unfair and I shall be raising that with Master Mao soon.”

“Okay, okay, but was it you, or was it Dai Shi?”

“It was me.” Honestly, he didn’t want to even admit as much without having spoken to Camille properly. But… maybe he could spin that to his advantage. “Did she say different?”

“She’s been saying sweet fuck all ever since the battle. Well, save for “Pass me a bandage” or “Don’t touch that needle!” Honestly she’s acting like I’m an idiot or something. Anyway…” Flit shifted, jabbing Jarrod with his knee “…I knew something was off about her when I came to tell her the Red Ranger was on his way. I mean, I saw the bruises and stuff, but I assumed she’d gotten into another fight. But then she threw herself between you and Dai Shi and… well… that was surprising.”

Surprising how? Jarrod wanted to shake him, but he knew this would not do. So he just said:

“You must know her very well.”

“Oh yes. Thousands of years, stuck in that wall? She was the only person I could talk to for ages, until the humans started building their cities closer to us. Always been looking after herself, our Camille. Always. But for some reason she risked it all that day, and I didn’t know if it was because she cared for you or because Dai Shi finally broke her. Which—” Flint frowned “—I guess is not self-excluding. It might even be that she threw herself between you two, hoping to be destroyed.”

“Does it matter?” Jarrod asked, trying to keep himself from disappearing into his own fear. “For you, I mean?”

“Oh, well, no. My curse was broken because she gave up her immortality and most her powers. But I suppose it would have had the same difference if she died, eh? Well, anyway, I hope things turn out well for you two. She’s been really moody lately.”

“Yeah… about that…” 

Flit jumped off the bed. “I was looking for RJ actually. You seen him?”

“He was here for a bit,” Jarrod said, recalling the Wolf Master stretched on one of the beds. “But if I have to guess, he must have returned to town.”

“Oh… well… I suppose I can walk that far.” Flit nodded, absent-mindedly. 

“Out of curiosity,” Jarrod said. “Where do you usually find Camille when she is not speaking to you?”

“Aside from the infirmary?” Flit frowned. “Probably the river. She keeps scrubbing at her hands as if she wants to rip them off her body. No idea what that was about.”

Then he went off, happily oblivious to the damage he’d just wrought.

*

There were times when she physically couldn’t get away from the academy.

Like when Master Mao called on her to tell her version of events, yet again. Like when she’d had to change Jarrod’s bandages before he woke up, and she worked with an increasingly small window of opportunity. Like when a bunch of the children had gotten a vomiting sickness and Flit had let it slip that Camille had a treatment for that. For someone who was potentially a dangerous prisoner, she was given an awful lot of work.

Maybe she was just reading too much into it. From what she could tell, Pai Zhua was good at teaching students how to fight, and that was about it. She used to think that maybe Dai Shi had been released because the right time had come, or because her former Master was just too strong. 

_It made sense at the time._

But now that she had seen how things were inside the academy, all she could think of was: How did it not happen sooner?

Camille had a lot of re-evaluations to do - starting with her belief in her old Master’s Omnipotence. She did a lot of that too - pacing the river, running over events recent and old in her head. How could she have followed someone so… so brutish? So cruel? She desperately tried to make some sense of what had happened, and she kept falling short of a sufficient explanation.

_Maybe because there isn’t one. _

_Or maybe it’s because you are awful and his evil appealed to you._

Camille shuddered. She kept coming to that thought, and every time she did, she felt this little bit unclean. 

_There was a reason once. I had a reason for joining him. I just… I just can’t remember it._

_Old pain, _ Master Swoop had called it. _ A lot of old pain. _

She spent a lot of time on the river bank, washing her hands. 

That night, she sat in the grass and stared up at the sky. In the city, light pollution meant that the stars were invisible. Here, they were a beautiful sight… and it left her feeling as empty as any of Dai Shi’s insults. 

You, my dear, are ruthless, he’d said to her once. When? Thousands of years ago? Or was it before the final battle? She couldn’t remember what face he’d been wearing - just that his words sent ice down her veins. Charming and beautiful, and a perfect head-wrecker. Nobody can withstand you - and that is why I have you here with me.

Flit hadn’t been much help either. Ever since he’d assumed human form again, he’d been off telling everyone about how he was her ancient enemy, and that she was one of the most evil creatures he’d known for keeping him prisoner for so long. The ungrateful man - apparently looking after him all these years counted for nothing. But listening to his thoughtless prattling made her question herself even more. Was she really as bad as he made her believe? Did she truly have no redeeming quality?

What a head-wrecker, indeed.

A twig snapped in the forest, making her jump and reach for her sai. The leaves rustled…

…and then Jarrod stumbled out on the path, breathing heavily, leaning into a tree. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw her.

“Camille…” he said, and then immediately descended into a coughing fit.

“You utter idiot,” she snarled, angrier than she had felt all week. Sheathing her weapons, she put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing, running into the jungle in your state?”

“I—”

“Have you any idea how hard we had to work just to put you back together?” she went on, ignoring the look on his face. “I have half a mind to leave you here, you pig-headed, self-sabotaging…”

Then she walked within an arm’s reach. Jarrod watched her work herself up… then his good warm snaked around her wrist, pulling her flush against him, his mouth finding hers. 

Oh.

With a sigh, she opened her lips and slipped one of her legs between his. Jarrod growled - with approval, she hoped - and span them until he had her pressed against a nearby tree. His arm traced possessively over her, as if he was trying to make sure she was still in one piece, and she arched her hips, trying to bring him closer.

Then the kiss turned tender. 

She didn’t think that was possible, but the urgency died, leaving behind a slow burn of their lips moving together, and his body curling around her. 

“Hi,” she whispered, when he finally broke away.

“Hi yourself,” he said, cupping her cheek gently. “And to answer your question - I was looking for you.”

“Question?” Her brain was scrambled. 

“What I’m doing here? Ruining all your hard work?”

Oh, right. She knew she had some other complaint to lodge. “I did spend an awful long on those stitches,” she said, looking up at his forehead. At least they were still in place. “What was so urgent that you couldn’t for wait for me to come in?”

“I’m awake,” he said, giving her a look that was part-playful, part-not. “I can’t well tell you what hurts if I’m passed out, can I?”

And now she felt like an idiot. She thought she could deduce everything that there was to know about his condition without even asking him a single question. “What’s the matter? Do you need me to call for help? I can carry you to the academy, but…”

He caressed her face. 

“I’ve been dying,” he said, “with worry. Because you took a massive blow in that fight with Dai Shi, on top of all the other injuries you’d taken, and I had no idea if you were okay or not.”

“Surely the others told you I was up and walking,” she said. Then Jarrod pulled gently at her collar, revealing the bruising and cuts on her collarbone. “It’s not broken,” she pointed out. “And I can still lift my hands above my head.”

“Typical,” he huffed, causing her to shiver a little. “Sticks and stones break everyone else’s bones, but never yours.”

Everyone else’s bones. Old pain. Camille suddenly felt horribly alone. Pushing him off, she took a few steps, trying to get some air. “Why are you here?” she asked the river. “You should be resting, not chasing random women in the night.”

“You’re not a random woman,” he said. There was a new edge to his voice but she didn’t know if it was from the cold, the injuries, or… or… 

_Or he’s remembering all the ways he was abused in Dai Shi’s compound, and I did nothing about it. Damn it. _

She bent over, grabbing the supply bag from where she’d dropped it earlier. “And I need to get back to work,” she said. “There’s no mint in the whole of the academy, or wild garlic. How am I supposed to put together a cold medicine with either of these?” She steeled herself and turned to look at him. “If you can walk, you should go back indoors. I need to finish this.”

Jarrod stared at her.

He had that look on his face, the _ that’s such bullshit _ look that he wore through most of the final battle. But while he had been resisting their assurances that he wasn’t too far gone for a second chance, now all his stubbornness was targeted at her.

“What happened?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” 

He pushed off the tree and hobbled over to her. She knew she could outrun him… in theory, anyway. She didn’t know what would happen if he shifted into the Lion. But she could, so why wasn’t she?

Jarrod lifted the flap of the supply bag, revealing the interior. “You’ve been out here since… when? Fifth bell? And you’ve only found a bunch of aloe?” He frowned. “Even I recognized half the herbs on the path, and I’m hardly a botanist. You’re hiding.”

“I…”

“And you won’t tell me what’s wrong. Camille… are you going away?”

*

Her breath caught, and he wanted nothing more than throw her over his shoulder and haul her back into the academy. They didn’t have a working dungeon, but he was sure he could find a place she could stay until she came to her senses. His room, perhaps, with him blocking the door.

No, none of this was feasible. 

Yes, he did not care in the least.

The panic had been too much to sit out - he had to find her, and find her immediately. He had to make sure she was okay, body and soul. If either wasn’t faring too well, he could find help for that, too. He didn’t know where that help was, but he would find it. 

“Well?” he asked, as the silence stretched. “Are you?”

“Where would I go?” she asked, her eyes darkening. “I’ve no money, no documents, no friends. Even my clothes are borrowed.” 

It was true, she was wearing a student uniform - too worn, and too baggy, but clean and tidy. Jarrod didn’t say so, but it suited her too well.

“Face it,” she went on, “You can’t get rid of me if you wanted to.”

“Difficulties never stopped you before,” he replied. He reached out to touch her, and she flinched from him as if burned. “Is this… because of something I did? Are you angry?”

“Why would I be angry?” she asked. He could feel the fury radiating off her like heat.

Fine. This was fine.

“Because you tried to help me, and I blew it. You risked your life, gave up your immortality, fought against your master, and I ran off and hid until the last possible minute.” Gods but it hurt to admit. “I should have just sucked it up and fought regardless of how I felt. Instead, I held everyone up because I wanted a pity party.”

She was silent, but her breath was coming out in short gasps, as if she’d just ran a mile and was catching her breath. He would give anything to know what was going on in her head.

“Am I wrong?” he asked. “Are you mad because you wanted Dai Shi to destroy you, and he didn’t?”

“We would have been destroyed anyway, if we hadn’t done anything,” she snapped. 

“But you’re not happy you’re alive right now? Not even a little?” 

“Damn it!” She threw the bag down. “I don’t know how I feel, Jarrod. Gods! Everything I know and believe is gone, and I have no idea what will happen in one hour, let alone the next day. Can’t I feel sad or lost or whatever it is that this is before people start demanding I figure my shit out?”

He swallowed. “You could have told me,” he said.

Camille seemed to shrink in on herself. “I don’t know how to do this,” she said. “Being… human. Everything is so loud and intense and overwhelming. Any little cold or bad injury can be the death of me. And on top of everything else, I have to stay here, with people who don’t trust me. I can’t… I can’t just flip a switch and carry on.”

“Then don’t.” Jarrod reached out and this time, she let him pull her closer. “Be angry. Be sad. Be any or none of those things.”

“What are you now, my knight in shining armor?” she muttered into his chest, but softening as he stroked her back.

“No. But I won’t judge you for having feelings. Camille—” he made her look at him in the eyes “—please don’t hide yourself from me.”

A shadow passed over her face, but before he could say anything about it, she pressed on:

“You need to go back indoors. I wasn’t kidding about your stitches.”

“Only if you come back too.” He kissed her again. The tension disappeared from her body, and she pressed against him. Did she know how good that felt? He had half a mind lowering them both to the grass and taking her right there, under the stars, injuries be damned. 

But no. They were both still hurt, and he wanted to take his time when they were together next. No monsters sniffing at the door, no evil spirits waiting to possess him, no wild animals just waiting for a chance to pounce. Not having any stitches or recently dislocated shoulders to worry about would help, too. 

And he desperately wanted a bed for them. And a door that could lock. And as much distance from other people as possible.

Her hands slipped low on his hips and he growled. “Keep doing that,” he said, “And we’ll never get back to the academy.”

“Hm, yes, that would be a problem,” she said. Then without another word she picked him up, throwing over her shoulders. She squatted once to pick up the bag, then started walking. “Better watch out, Lion,” she said, as he laughed incredulously. “Lots of low hanging branches here.”

*

She woke up in one of the infirmary cots, Jarrod’s hand around her waist, her back pressed to his front. Sunlight danced across the floor, and she had probably lost valuable worry hours, but for the first time since the battle, Camille felt warm. Jarrod muttered something as she shifted, and his lips pressed against the back of her neck.

She could get used to this.

It would be easy.

Then she realized what had woken her. 

Slowly, lifted her head to the foot of the bed, and took a bracing breath. 

“Is it time?” she whispered.

Master Swoop just nodded.

Camille closed her eyes and cursed every demon in heaven and earth. Then she started untangling herself from Jarrod.

“…hm, time to get up?” he slurred, looking so young and so tired at the same time, she wanted to cry.

“Not yet,” she said, bending over to kiss his cheek. “I just need to go to the bathroom. Sleep on.”

“M, k.” He rubbed his face against the pillow. “Don’t be too long.”

_I can’t promise that _, she thought, as she stood and picked up the supplies satchel from where she’d dropped it the previous night. _ Anything else, it’ll be my pleasure._

If Swoop sensed her hesitation, he made no mention of it - just stood by as she pulled herself together, and then walked her out of the academy. 

On the front steps, Dominic stood, holding her luggage. What it contained, she had no idea. But if she had the choice to give up her possessions in order to stay, she would have done so in a heartbeat.

“You know where to go?” Swoop asked, as the White Ranger helped her shoulder the backpack.

“I’ll take her there, and I’ll be back,” Dominic said. “The… the others will take her forward, I guess.”

“Good,” he said. “And we can trust you will keep your word, Camille?”

She swallowed. Her word… to obey the Masters without hesitation, to do as she was told, to help rebuild what she had destroyed… and to not contact Jarrod until further notice. 

The thought of him waking up alone, and not being able to have a proper goodbye, burned her to her very core. 

But she understood their reasoning. Hells, she’d considered this course of action herself. 

“Can you…” she started, feeling foolish, “can you tell him something for me?”

Swoop was silent. She chose to take that as encouragement.

“Tell him to remember his promise,” she said. “That I will… I will only hold up my end of the bargain if he does his.”

“I’m sure he’ll know,” Swoop said. “But I’ll remind him nonetheless.”

She nodded. Then, hoisting her bag again, she turned to Dom. “Lead the way.”

Swoop waited until the two disappeared from the path. Then he took a deep breath and walked indoors again. It was time for the hard bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers. This is a fan work, just for fun.

All things considered, he took it well.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” 

Casey raised an eyebrow, as Jarrod jumped out of bed… and fell flat on his face again.

RJ was not impressed. “We mean, she’s gone,” he said, using his most no-nonsense voice, as the former Dark Master struggled back to his feet. “The Masters gave her a week to prepare, and they saw her off early this morning.”

“But you said… when will she be back?” Jarrod asked.

This was going to hurt. Casey knew that Jarrod had some sort of relationship with Camille, but he didn’t know just how much the decision to split them would impact them until he actually broke the news. 

And now… well…

The news, they were broken.

“Why are you quiet?” Jarrod asked. “She will come back… won’t she?”

“Camille has done… a lot of things in her time,” RJ said.

“Yeah, good things as well as bad.” Jarrod touched his bandaged arm, and Casey felt a corresponding twinge of pain in his own side, where his stitches were still healing from the final battle. “Are you saying none of it mattered?”

“We’re saying there are some concerns about the people she holds loyalty to,” RJ said. “We can’t just allow one of Dai Shi’s former generals to have her run at the academy until we’re sure she can be trusted.”

Jarrod looked like he was ready to lose his cool. Then, he caught Casey’s eye… and his shoulders sagged, as if the full realization of what was happening finally hit.

“I see,” he muttered. “I suppose I’ll be sent away, too. Once I’m fully healed.”

“You said you wanted to be a Pai Zhua again,” Casey said. “Did you change your mind?”

“No. But—”

“Then it’s settled.” RJ clapped his hands. “Now, you can walk and stand for extended periods of time, which is good. Casey will keep an eye on you for the next couple of days, and when the weekend is over, we expect you to join us at Jungle Karma Pizza.”

“I… what?”

“Your hand is weak as a result of your fall, right? Kneading is excellent PT for that, and the Masters believe a few months in customer service is just the trick for you.” 

Casey cringed, but RJ just ramped up the cheerfulness. “Once we’re sure you’ve mastered the Jungle Fury pizza toss, we can look into enrolling you into a beginner’s class… perhaps the one with the young children. How does that sound?”

Jarrod looked like he wanted to jump out of a window. But where the old him would have raged and complained, now he just… nodded and sat back down on his cot. “I understand, Wolf Master. I’ll be there.”

RJ nodded at both of them and, after patting Casey on the shoulder, turned on his heel and left the infirmary.

About ten seconds later, they heard Flit’s voice. “RJ! I’ve been looking all over for you!” 

Casey turned to find Jarrod cringing. “Are you sick?” he asked, walking up to him. “Do you need tea? Medicine?”

“I’m okay,” the other man said. Then, after a beat, “So Flit wasn’t sent away with her?”

“I… I believe the Masters had something different in mind.” The Masters had no such thing in mind, but he wasn’t sure what the best thing to say was. “Er… you should rest up. The pizza place isn’t a walk in the park. I… I should know.”

Jarrod nodded absent-mindedly.

As the Tiger Master settled in against the wall, he started counting back from 1000 in his mind. At around 301, Jarrod spoke up again. “Do you think they’ll let her return?”

Casey frowned. He’d expected Jarrod to try and make a run for it - or fight, since that was more his style. He hadn’t quite been prepared for depression... not at this stage, at least. 

“If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be separated. You know that, right?”

Jarrod nodded. 

“For what it’s worth, I think she can do it. Whatever test they put to her, I mean.” The only issue was that passing the test didn’t always mean readmission, not that Casey was about to say that. “You’re really protective of her, aren’t you?”

“Haven’t you been listening to Flit?”

“It’s a little hard to tell when he’s remembering something or imagining it.” Casey scratched his head. He wasn’t sure telling Jarrod about Flit’s latest assertions that he’d seen him and Camille having sex by the river. That probably wouldn’t help foster any friendships. “But I did see you together. And then after… you only joined the battle after she did. And she kept looking after you. And…”

“Yeah,” Jarrod interrupted. “We didn’t exactly make an effort to hide it, I guess.”

“Ah…” Casey nodded. “Um… Master Swoop passed on her message, right?”

“Yes.”

“It… means something to the two of you?”

“Yes.”

This was about the limit to what he could deal with, emotional conversations-wise. “Well then… I suppose you’ll have to trust her, then.”

*

Casey was only half right.

Jarrod trusted Camille implicitly.

Trusting himself was a different matter, especially when RJ handed him a colorful ball-cap and an apron and ordered him to start sweeping the restaurant.

“I thought you said you wanted me in the kitchen,” he said.

“Patience, young chef, patience. Before one can cook, one must know how to clean up after himself.” RJ seemed terribly pleased with himself. “Now, off you run, the pre-lunch hour rush waits for no broom!”

So humility was the name of the game. Fine. He could do that. 

By the end of the day, though, he was more than ready to start swearing.

It wasn’t just that the patrons were careless with his floor (he’d been pretty quick to start thinking of it as his). It was the way little kids kept running around, oblivious to the mayhem they caused. It was the people trailing mud without a second thought. It was - as he discovered after the 12.32 rush - how some patrons didn’t even flush the toilet after themselves. And it was his job, and his alone, to sweep crumbs, wipe spilled condiments, bus dirty dishes, unclog the drain and disinfect every surface… only for the next round of customers to show up and make everything filthy again.

“How—” he asked Casey “—did you guys not murder everyone in sight?”

“Oh… we took turns on the cleaning duty,” the Tiger Master said.

“But you guys needed to learn teamwork,” RJ called out from behind the counter. “And Jarrod needs to learn the intricacies of living in the real world. Starting with the very serious problem the Department of Health and Sanitation can be to a small pizza place if _ any food is left out after a customer has been through _. Seriously, you guys, if these corners got any dirtier, we’d be wining and dining rats, not humans.”

*

He crawled into bed that night, too tired to think. Hoping against hope that tomorrow would be better.

It was not better.

Nor was the day after, or the day after that. 

What made things really bad was the hope. Every now and again, when things got extremely hectic - like when a toddler spit in his mouth, or when a customer accused him of rolling his eyes while tidying up the table - he expected the Rangers to step in and help. Which made life even more miserable when they did nothing of the sort and he had to manage the situation himself.

He supposed he ought to be happy.

He was not.

One week drew to an end. Then another. And another. And another.

At last, RJ allowed him in the kitchen and started to teach him how to mix basic dough, but even that was fraught. “Not too much water, not all at once, or else it turns into paste,” RJ told him, just as Jarrod’s hand slipped and he turned the tap into the flour bowl.

Lovely. 

As he prepared for a second try, Jarrod looked for something - anything - to focus his attention. Casey chose this moment to enter the kitchen, inadvertently coming to his rescue.

“Hey, RJ, can I have a moment?”

“I’ve got to supervise our newest hire,” RJ said, conveniently forgetting that Jarrod was old enough to drive and buy a drink. “What’s up?”

“Well… I saw the new schedule… and I was wondering if I could swap Friday nights with someone?”

“What do you mean? You always worked Friday nights.”

“Yeah, but… I’d like to have them off for the next few weeks. Is that okay? I’ve asked Fran already and she says she’s happy to trade.”

“Is this because of your new teaching responsibilities?”

“…no? That’s Wednesdays, remember? You made a big deal to Master Mao when he put the proposal forward.”

“Ah, so I did.” RJ paused, examining Jarrod’s latest efforts, and then nodded at him to continue. “Look, Casey, Fridays are hard here and Fran gets overwhelmed quickly. And when Fran gets overwhelmed, Dom gets overprotective. And when Dom gets overprotective… well, let’s just say two thirds of the restaurant will be left unattended and I’ll be kissing my mortgage goodbye. And trading with Fran will mean breaking up your own break times - why bother when the system works?”

_ So the Tiger Master runs his own class _ Jarrod thought, as he started mixing the ingredients, careful to hold the water with his stronger hand. _ Must be nice. _

If only Casey would see it that way.

“Look, I want to start a course in the college,” he said. “I wasn’t going to make a big deal of it, except one of the mandatory modules is on Friday.”

“College?” Even without looking up, Jarrod could tell, RJ was frowning. “That’s the first time I ever heard of this. What course is that?”

Casey muttered something.

“I’m sorry, I thought you said ‘veterinary science’.”

“Well… why not?” the younger man exclaimed, causing both Jarrod and RJ to look up, startled. “The threat is over… sorry, Jarrod, I don’t mean to talk to you like you’re not there… We haven’t even had a little fight in weeks, and the academy is getting back on track. There’s no need for us to be on high alert anymore, and I’d… I’d like to learn something else.”

Silence.

“I’m sorry,” RJ said. “I… er… I didn’t think. But won’t the course interfere with your Pai Zhua duties? I can turn the schedule around here but the Masters will still need you to help tutor. And, if I’m not mistaken, any kind of medical study just gets harder and harder from here. You’ll have to devote yourself to it permanently at some point.”

“Well… I can cross that bridge when I get there,” Casey said.

More silence. Jarrod was starting to feel awkward, listening in. He had no idea why - the conversation was hardly shocking or revelatory - but the way the two men held themselves, the way the air was full of tension and unspoken things, gave the whole situation an air of intimacy that he was… well… not a part of.

He coughed, trying to dissipate the tension. “Erm… the wet ingredients are mixed in. What do I do now?”

“Toss it on the table and knead,” RJ said, without even looking over. “Casey, I’m not saying no… but I’d like you to think about this long and hard. You’ll need financial support as well as emotional through this. I don’t want you to take on a dream of yours and then burn out because you didn’t plan it through. Okay?”

“The course starts soon…” Casey said.

“One night won’t hurt you,” RJ said, then turned to Jarrod. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, man, put some flour on the table first!”

The next few minutes were a fumble, as Jarrod struggled to un-dough his hands and RJ tried to help save the latest batch. It wasn’t until the base station was under control again that Casey went out to the main room, and Jarrod had the Wolf Master’s undivided attention.

“Just put your back into it,” RJ explained. “Think of how you might love a wo— oh, never mind,” he said, shaking his head. “Just… spend some time on it. You need to actually build up the gluten in the dough, otherwise it’ll crumble in the oven.”

“What was that about, with Casey?” Jarrod asked.

Pause.

“I said—”

“I heard you.” RJ crossed his arms, studying him. “I gave Casey my honest opinion. Is that wrong somehow?”

“No.” Jarrod folded the dough over itself, then started flattening it with his fist. “It’s just that… it seemed like an overtly critical response to a simple request. And I should know about those.”

“Look at you - four weeks on the shop floor and you’re already the King of Emotional Intelligence.” But the snark held no bite. RJ was wrong, and he knew it. “I suppose you know everything about juggling school, a job, and kung fu.”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He didn’t like to talk about this, usually, but time and perspective had a way of easing old hurt. “Before I came to Pai Zhua, I lived in the Dustbowl, remember? No jobs, no services, no after-school clubs for the likes of me and my lot?”

The Wolf Master made him pause, surveyed the work, then nodded at him to continue.

“You kept to yourself when you came to the academy,” RJ said. “I only learned about your story from Master Mao, after he banished you.”

“Well, I didn’t see much point in sharing it,” Jarrod said. What he held back what that, after a few nights in Pai Zhua, he’d realized nobody had time for sympathy ploys. “But I did have to work from early on, and also go to school. Kung fu was my way of winding down. What I did not encounter, though, was difficulties in managing my priorities.”

RJ frowned. “With all due respect, I don’t think your situation at home is comparable. Some people might even call it wrong.”

“Some people might call it necessary.” He punched the dough a little too hard, rattling the table. Before RJ could intervene, he pushed the kneaded stuff away and pulled up another bowl, starting the next batch. “Listen, I’m not trying to step on anybody’s toes,” he said. “I just don’t see why the schedule is the hill you want to die on with Casey.”

The Wolf Master was silent for a long time. Then, he said:

“You know, I think I underestimated you.” He paused. “Perhaps we can trial Friday night shift with you in Casey’s place. That’ll be interesting to watch.”

*

As he lay in his room over Jungle Karma, he pondered what difference a mere six weeks made. Possession, freedom… getting a chance at new life and having the one being he wanted to share it with disappear from right under his nose. And worse - he had no way of contacting her, no way of telling what was real and what was not. 

It hurt. More than he thought it would.

Being possessed was awful, but what Jarrod remembered most was the long stretches between plans and battles, when Dai Shi wasn’t plotting or training. When the dragon’s inner musings turned to how great he was and how he was going to do what no one else had done, Jarrod escaped to the far reaches of his mind and thought of Camille.

He’d fantasized about her - this Angel of Sleep - in sexual ways, of course, but there had also been times when all he imagined was holding her in his arms. How her hair would look down. How peaceful her face would be in sleep. The weight of her body on top of his own. He’d craved intimacy like nothing more. And then, the only night that Jarrod had been with her, Camille had tried to hide.

Not physically, that was impossible, but where the woman was direct and no-nonsense, she had suddenly become evasive and dismissive when her own body was concerned. Every time he’d attempted to focus on her, she’d tried to distract him… She did not understand that what he wanted, more than anything, was to be with her.

_ “What about you?”_

_“Me?” She frowned. “I’m… good.”_

_“But are you… are you…” _

_She just raised an eyebrow. Realizing she wasn’t going to make it easy for him, Jarrod moved her hand so that it lay on the side of her body, then traced his palm over her hip and between her legs. Camille let out a shuddering breath. _

_“Is that… um… good? I mean, is that supposed to happen?”_

_“Yes. Very much so.”_

_“Camille?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“What do I do?”_

_She met his eyes again, and the vulnerability there nearly broke him. Lacing her fingers with his, she slipped both their hands under her waistband, and showed him. _

What was it about your innermost desires that made them so difficult to say out loud? Jarrod had had no qualms when all he’d wanted was power and respect. Camille had seemed ruthless in her single-minded devotion to Dai Shi and his cause. Yet, what they both had wanted - really, truly wanted - was moments of shared understanding and intimacy. And now that they couldn’t have them, all Jarrod could think about was: _ What if I had done something sooner? _

The boards in the corridor creaked under someone’s feet. Probably heading toward the bathroom, Jarrod thought, and tried to return to his moping.

But the footfalls did not head into the direction of the bathroom. Instead, they paused outside of his door… and then carried on toward the main room. 

Intrigued, Jarrod slid out of bed and out his window. The house had a nice, wide roof over the restaurant - perfect for landing, if his instincts failed him - and he snuck across the ledge, where the window of the command center was. 

The light was dimmed, but not enough for him not to discern Casey. 

He was sitting in the forbidden chair.

That was it. No late night practice, no clandestine meetings, not even an attempt at a prank. The Tiger Master just sat there, alternating between reading a pamphlet and staring off into the distance. 

Jarrod watched for a few minutes, then snuck back to his room.

Some things, you just had to do in private.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers. This is a fan work, just for fun... and brought to you by insomnia and thesis procrastination.
> 
> My soul, it is 99% coffee.

Somewhere not too far away, a woman was running through a forest, carrying a child over her shoulder.

She was fast and light on her feet, but there was trouble with her gait and she kept throwing looks over her shoulder… at the shadows moving in the distance, the inhuman grunts of her pursuers. 

The child whimpered. She tried hushing him, but, as if clued onto her fear, the boy started to wail louder. 

“Please, don’t,” she whispered. “Please… you’ll attract them to us.”

But before she could soothe him, her foot found an exposed branch and they toppled to the ground. Seconds later, their pursuers - misshapen, monstrous - were onto them, their clawed hands getting ready to strike.

“Why not pick someone your own size?” 

The shout cut across the noise and the bloodlust. Almost as one, the assailants turned to find a figure in green, wielding twin blades, descending on them from the canopy. Abandoning their prey, they turned on the newcomer, only to be struck down as steel met claw with a spark. The woman scrambled up carried the child over to a nearby tree, then pulled her own sword from its sheath, ready to fight.

But there was no need. The figure in green dispatched the dino-drones with a haste, before de-morphing and running over.

“Come on,” Camille said, scooping the child up in her arms to give her counterpart a break. “The others will need us soon. We need to get to the rendez-vous point.”

“Took you long enough,” Elsa said. Then smiled.

*

As it turned out, the others had started the raid without them - Elsa’s dash to grab a runaway before the dino-drones had gotten to him had distracted the security forces enough for Anton and Tommy to move in. In Camille’s view, they would have been better off waiting, but it was too late to complain. Morphing back into her fighting form, she went in the back, aiming for where the cages were kept.

The children looked at her with frightened eyes, even as she cut through the restraints and pulled open the doors. “Come on,” she said. “Run. Quick!” It was as if they’d been captive for so long, they didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Maybe they didn’t.

A guard stumbled in, growling. Camille threw one of her sais straight through his head. 

The children started moving then, running to the open window she had used to gain access. Ignoring the urge to run after them, and make sure they’re alright, Camille moved toward the corridor, adjusting her grip on her remaining weapon, ready to intercept the guards who were making their way to the holding area.

Outside was pandemonium. She could vaguely make out Anton Mercer in his morphed form, scattering drones, but there was no sign of Tommy. Bracing herself for the worst, she cut her way across the fray, throwing an assailant straight through a window. “West Side is clear,” she yelled at Anton. “Let’s move out.”

“Not just yet,” he growled at her. “Oliver needs more time.”

“We don’t have more time…”

Then a series of explosions shook the ground, and there was the man of the hour, running down the stairs of the base with a laptop computer under his arm. “Come on!” he yelled, as if they hadn’t been waiting for him all this time. Camille cut a path out through the main gate, and they stumbled out in time for a last explosion to cave the roof on the base. 

Just outside the parameter, Elsa stood, sword black and slick with blood. Guards lay across the grass, and the children they’d just released clustered behind her. 

“Well…” Anton said, de-morphing. “I’d say that was a success.”

Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell, face-first into the grass.

_ Great, _ Camille thought. _ We’ll have to carry him again. _

*

Occasionally, while she was still Dai Shi’s lieutenant, Camille had wondered what Power Ranger teams did in their down-time. After all, the world wasn’t always on the brink of destruction. What did superheroes do in their off seasons? Crochet?

As it turned out, though, they did much of the same.

With a little help from their friends.

“Alright everyone,” Elsa said, as they led the children into the base near Reefside. “There’s food in the main hall - help yourselves to everything you want. We’ll get some sleeping bags ready and then tomorrow, we’ll start getting you to your parents.”

“If they have any,” Camille muttered under her nose. The kids didn’t seem to notice, though. Dirty and exhausted, they descended on the food as though it was the only thing that mattered.

Perhaps it was. 

Hayley walked up to them, looking more than mildly worried. “Please tell me that blood is not all yours,” she told Elsa and Camille, sizing them up. “I don’t have enough string to sew you both up.”

“Don’t worry,” Camille said. “I can do that myself.”

“Maybe,” Tommy said, walking up behind the two of them, “you can let someone else do that, and avoid sewing something that’s not supposed to be sewn up.”

“It happened once. Once. And I was just tired.”

Jokes. A sign of things going well. She’d been learning a lot this past month and some change. 

Like the fact that villains did sometimes survive defeat. And that sometimes, the Rangers helped them find a new purpose. Not an easy purpose, of course, but at least a fulfilling one.

Well… she had to believe that was true, otherwise this whole exercise was one of futility.

“What happened to Anton?” Hayley asked, as Camille and Tommy carried him from the back. They’d trekked a couple of miles to where they’d left the vehicles, then drove the children in turns, making sure there was at least one person on guard. There had been more of them here than they had intended… but it still would have helped if their fourth had not lost consciousness.

“Morphing sapped him again,” Elsa said. “I told him he had to have that device looked at, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Yeah,” Tommy muttered. “Sounds about right.”

Camille waited for a bit to see if her services would be needed, before walking over to the viewing platform to study the main room.

The children weren’t talking.

They never talked on the first night. 

Then again, why would they? After everything that had happened?

One of them - the little boy they had grabbed from the forest - looked up, mouth full of bread and cheese. His brown eyes held hers for a long time… then he raised his hand and waved.

She smiled.

Yes, perhaps this was all worth it.

*

Not every Power Ranger team had a lot of powers to go around in the aftermath of a big showdown, but the Reefside crew had something going for them. They had mad scientists.

They also had a surplus of dino drones running around, ready for any unscrupulous monster to scoop them up and make them do as they pleased. Not too long after the defeat of Mesogog, an unknown monster had rallied them together, and started collecting children to pray on their fear. Tommy, the mentor for the local ranger team, had discovered the plot and organized a response team… of a sort. The then-rangers having moved on, it was up to him and his former two nemeses (and Hayley, of course) to fight back. 

Because the monster was smart, though, they could never get to him. All they knew is that it prayed on fear.

That was where Camille came in. Sort of.

She sat in the main hall, having taken first watch, balms and potions on standby in case anybody suffered from night terrors. She was really meant to be listening in, trying to see if the children described anybody she knew… but the reality was, none of the rescues ever wanted to speak. What they wanted… what they needed, was safety. The reassurance that the nightmare was over.

“Hey.” 

Camille raised an eyebrow, as Elsa pulled up a chair. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I’m rested enough,” she said, wincing a little. “I thought I’d check on you.”

The eyebrow remained raised.

“You barely said a word since we got back from the raid,” Elsa explained. “I know you’re not the chattiest person, but it doesn’t mean you have to keep everything inside.”

Camille shrugged. 

In all seriousness, she could probably do with speaking to someone. Anyone. And Elsa was a good candidate. She, at least, had some idea of what it felt like, to try and be a good person after serving evil for so long. But still… even the act of talking was difficult. Some days, she felt like she’d never even left the wall of Dai Shi’s temple. 

“Is it because of what I said in the forest?” Elsa asked.

“What? No, of course not…” 

“Because I was just letting off steam, you know.”

“Of course I know. It was a stressful night.” Any night when things didn’t go according to plan was stressful, of course. But this one had been especially difficult, and Camille had no illusions about it taking a toll. “If I’d been quicker, Anton mightn’t have worn himself out as much though.”

“Oh, please.” Elsa rolled her eyes. Even as a whisper, she could hear the sarcasm in her voice. “We’re using experimental tech to tap into powers we weren’t supposed to have in the first place. If he and Tommy decided to charge in without waiting for back-up, that’s their own fault.”

“You’re still angry, though.”

“I’m still angry.”

They sat in silence for a while, surveying their charges for the night.

“You think we’ll be able to find all of their parents?” Camille asked at length. Sometimes getting the child to the police was as complicated as it was. But whomever was behind this plot, they were not a fool. They snatched runaways, or kids off the street, or little ones separated from their parents for any reason. She’d seen enough from Tommy’s records - and her own time here - just how awful it was for some of them. When she’d arrived, Dominic had actually taken three kids back to Pai Zhua with him - because the Order of the Claw could actually provide for them better. She didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if a former ranger team hadn’t gotten wind of this operation before.

_ And this is what I was like, too, _ she thought. _ I used to prey on that fear. _

Awful. It was awful.

“You sure you don’t want Hayley to look at your arms?” Elsa asked. “Those are some deep scratches.”

“Nothing is infected. Trust me - I know.”

“Oh, I trust you’re smart,” Elsa said. “I just don’t want you hurting yourself out of some misguided attempt at atonement. It’s not going to help anybody.”

Camille smiled thinly. So. They were talking about this, whether she liked to or not.

“Come on,” Elsa bumped her with an elbow. “Which demon is it today? The I-don’t-deserve-nice-things one, or the one that is making you remember all the bad things you said about humans before?”

“I thought your memories of that time were gone,” Camille said.

“They come back sometimes. And it isn’t pretty. So… which one is it?”

“Neither, actually.”

“Ah. The denial one. Classic.”

How was it that they could just talk about this? Was there a book club they could sign up for? _ Former Evil Henchwomen Quarterly - come for the wine, stay for the self-hatred? _

“Do you ever feel like all of this is just a drop in the bucket?” Camille asked. “Like… it’s so easy to destroy. No matter how hard you try to make amends… there’s always something worse happening, something bigger you have done?”

Elsa sighed. “You’re a fighter, but you also know something of the healing arts. We all die sometime - does that stop you from stitching someone up? Or helping them fight an illness?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

The other woman patted her hand. “I know. But we have to take this one day at a time. This isn’t much comfort to you now, but trust me - one day, you’ll start to appreciate the small wins.”

Camille nodded. She had to believe that.

Had to, because the alternative was worse.

“Are you thinking of your friend?” Elsa asked. “The one you got… separated from?”

Thinking of Jarrod as her friend seemed like such an alien notion. But… “Yes, I guess I am.”

“He’s back in Ocean Bluff, isn’t he?”

“Unless they moved him, too.” It seemed unlikely, especially since his hand would need rehab. But still, she wouldn’t put it past the Masters.

“Are you worried that he won’t be able to see the jungle for the trees, too?”

She flashed back to that moment in the Forbidden Room. It had been a low point for him, true, but she knew him a little better than she cared to admit. “He’s carrying a lot of guilt, too.” She clenched hand hands. “I don’t know… I’m not sure how he’ll cope. I know it’s not my place to interfere but—”

“But you worry for him still. Yeah.” Elsa looked up, toward their medical bay. “I know what you mean.”

“The most I got out of Dom was that they were going to start him off in customer services and see how he gets on,” Camille said. “Whatever that means.”

“Ah…” the other woman nodded. “Bit disproportionate, don’t you think?”

“You know…” Camille said. “I’ve given up on trying to make sense of it myself.”

*

“And that, boys and girls, is why I said Jarrod couldn’t play with you yet,” RJ said, after the man in question hit the dojo floor for the fifth time in as many minutes. “But did you listen to me?”

Theo looked appropriately sheepish, as Jarrod pushed himself up slowly. In the sidelines, Lily and Casey tried not to cringe. His body was aching. At least his dignity was already in tatters - he didn’t want to think how much worse this training session would have been if he still thought of himself as a great fighter.

Although training session wasn’t the right word for it.

Being used as a mop was more accurate.

“One more,” he asked, taking a stance. “Please.”

“Nope.” RJ got up from his chair, standing between the two men. “I let you guys have your fun, but I’m not having your recovery set back another three months just because you need to prove something.”

Jarrod opened his mouth to argue, then RJ leaned in and said in a low voice: “Or do you want Camille’s hard work to go to waste.”

He clenched his fists once. Then he nodded and bowed. “I’m sorry, Master. I’ll tidy up now.”

“Hm, yes.” RJ nodded, almost to himself, before sitting down again and switching on his reality show. “You heard the man, you three. Go rest.”

Lily and Theo did as instructed. Casey, though, lingered as Jarrod started to clear away the weapons and sweep the floor.

“I said you should rest,” RJ called, not looking away from the screen. 

Casey, though, picked up a mop. “I think I’d like to help. Thanks.”

RJ sighed. “You’re a Master now, Casey. Your call.” His tone implied the exact opposite, but that wasn’t anybody’s business… least of all Jarrod’s, who just wanted to finish the chores for the night and go to his room to lick his wounds. 

How had he gone from being one of the better fighters at Pai Zhua to… well, this? He wasn’t completely incompetent, and yet it was as if his body was completely disconnected to his brain.

“Hey,” Casey said, as the two worked side by side. “It will get better. If I could learn from zero in such a short time…”

“You don’t have to try and reassure me.” Jarrod forced a smile. “I know what I did. I’ll have to be patient.”

“Yeah, well… you’ll catch up.” Casey paused. “Er… I meant to ask, how was Friday night service?”

The reason he had no ego left to hurt today, actually. “It was… fine.”

“Dom said there was an accident with a bowl of pasta.”

“One of the patrons brought a kid,” Jarrod said. “He was just playing.”

“By throwing their food at you?”

“He thought it improved my look. So did most of the customers.”

“It really did,” RJ called out. “I did ask him to wash it off, though, just in case we got a visit from the Health Commission.”

Casey cringed. “Oh. I’m sorry.” 

Why? He hadn’t thrown the pasta. “Comes with the territory,” Jarrod said. “I’ve got to learn to take it in stride, right?”

“I’m not so sure about that…” 

They swept the floor slowly, moving across the floor. Jarrod, who’d gotten better at anticipating questions these last few weeks, started counting back. Eventually, Casey said: “Listen, I’m not gonna need you to cover the Friday night. You’re already doing a lot and you’re in recovery, so you should stick to the easier days.”

“Did you find someone else to cover the shift then?”

The Tiger Master blushed, glancing at RJ. “No,” he said in a low voice. “But um… it doesn’t matter. I don’t have to take this particular class now. I can… postpone it. Take my course part-time or something.”

Jarrod frowned. “Casey. Is this important to you?”

Another blush.

“Um… yeah. But that doesn’t mean I need to be selfish about it.”

“I’m pretty sure my job here is to take the load off you guys,” Jarrod said. “So I’d say you should be selfish.”

“But—”

“And the longer you spend having to take classes, the longer it will take you to get your degree, and the longer it will be before you can do the stuff that you want.” He paused, waited to the objection. It never came. “You know I’m right.”

“I wish you weren’t.” Casey sighed. “Okay, but… you promise you’ll tell me if it gets too much, right?”

“If it makes you feel better.”

“Cool.” They reached the end of the floor, and put away their mops. Casey looked about a million times more alive than when they had started… which was a miracle, considering Jarrod’s hands and back were killing him. “Well then…”

“You probably have homework to do.”

“Yes. I do. Um… thanks, Jarrod.”

“Don’t thank me. It’s what I’m here for.”

But was it? Or was he serving some kind of extended penalty to himself for being an idiot? Jarrod stretched his back, then picked up a cloth to make sure the weapons were all cleaned. He was, though, painfully aware of his own body. When did he get so awkward? When did he lose all sense of coordination? Theo had had him hitting the floor in seconds, Lily in even less…

“You know,” RJ said suddenly, “life would be a lot better if you stopped forcing yourself to be something you’re not.”

Jarrod paused. “And what would that be?”

“You know… Lion Master, recovered villain, firing at all pistons all at once.” He glanced up, raised an eyebrow. “I’m not trying to make fun of you, Jarrod. You will be those things at some point. But you can’t get there all at once.”

“Is that some kind of hidden message?” he asked.

“Hmm… I’d say it’s more of an explicit one, if anything,” RJ said, scratching his head. “Stop trying to do so much. Things will get better.”

He said that… but he was still a villain. He was still being punished. If he wasn’t… if he wasn’t…

Well, for one thing, Camille would be here.

“You’re getting that look on your face again,” RJ said. “You don’t believe me and you want to argue, but you can’t because I’m your Master or something?”

“I’m still going to cover Casey’s shift on Friday.”

A shadow passed over the Wolf Master’s face. Then he brightened up again. “Hey, so long as you don’t scare away the customers, I don’t mind.”

Jarrod got back to work, shaking his head.

RJ clearly had something else on his mind if he was going to let that go so easily. The Friday shift was a punishment alright, and he seemed pretty serious about who got it.

Then again, maybe he knew exactly what he was doing.

Maybe next week something worse than pasta awaited him.

He wondered, what Casey had done to earn punishment, though.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers.
> 
> Content Warning: This chapter deals with PTSD, and has descriptions of violence.

The nightmare started as it always did. He was happy, and then he ruined it. 

“A moment longer and I would have been destroyed,” Camille was saying, lying in Dai Shi’s throne. He remembered that was a bad idea to put her there, but he was so glad she was alive, for that moment, it didn’t matter. 

He cupped her face… and then as if by its own accord, his hand closed around her throat and squeezed.

_ There is not a shred of nobility inside of you _ he heard Dai Shi whisper in his ear. _ That’s why I chose you. _

*

Jarrod woke up in cold sweat, scream stuck in his throat.

“I’m okay,” he whispered, body shaking. “I’m okay.”

But it wasn’t him he was afraid for. 

Stumbling into the common area, he found the sink and splashed water on his face and chest, avoiding the mirror at all costs. The night air should have been calming. Instead, it felt like the air was being squeezed from his lungs.

He wanted to be outside. Needed to be outside. To hunt, to fight… to run.

But run where?

“Can’t sleep?”

He whirled to find RJ, sitting in his chair, staring at the television screens. The television screens, each of which was playing a different movie. Jarrod closed his eyes momentarily, trying to gather himself. How long had the Wolf Master been there? Had he really not noticed him at all? 

“Sorry,” he muttered, walking across the room to where they kept the spare uniforms. He pulled a T-shirt over his head, trying to shove the fear back to where it had come. “I’m… going back to bed now.”

“Why bother?” RJ asked, distractedly. “Come. Sit with me for a while.” When Jarrod didn’t move, he added, “You know you’ll just pace your room until morning. You might as well keep me company.”

The Lion spirit urged him to run for the exit. Fighting the urge, Jarrod ambled over and sat where RJ indicated. 

For a while, he tried to pick a storyline to follow, but the movies were all the same. Big explosions, colorful superheroes… and as far as he could tell, nobody mounting a deadly attack on cities was getting a pardon. “Why are you watching this?” Jarrod asked, finally. “They’re not even using martial arts.”

“Ah. Don’t tell me - you’re one of those all work and no play types.” 

A character on screen leveled a building. Jarrod winced as the camera panned around to the faces of the terrified bystanders. “I just don’t see how these are terribly relaxing.”

“Maybe I just need to distract myself a bit,” RJ said. “Clear my head after a long day of tossing pizzas.”

“Do you ever sleep?”

“Of course.”

Pause.

“Do you ever sleep as you’re supposed to?”

“Probably not. But then again, you don’t seem to be faring much better, either. What’s eating you?”

Jarrod frowned. He tried to follow the movie on the lower left corner of the screen - something about a big green man fighting another big green man - but then RJ tapped the remote, shutting all five televisions simultaneously. 

The Lion urged him to run again.

Unfortunately, that would only postpone the inevitable. Heck, knowing RJ, the Wolf Master would probably follow him outside. Out-run him, defeat him, and then force him to have a heart-to-heart. Easier to get it over with now.

“I keep killing her,” he said. “In my dreams. Her, and others.”

“Camille, you mean?”

Who else would he mean? Jellica? Stingerella?

“I know it doesn’t make sense,” Jarrod said. “But I keep going back to that. Keep flipping between myself and Dai Shi in my dreams. It’s like I don’t have control over anything anymore.” He looked down at his hands. “If only I could see her once. Just from afar, to make sure she’s alright…”

“Are you sure that’s really what you want?” RJ asked.

Jarrod finally looked up. The Wolf Master’s face gave nothing away, yet for some reason, he felt judged. “Of course that’s what I want. I just told you—”

“You know,” RJ said, “A dream is rarely just a dream. Even old memories are more than just memories. You say it is Camille you want, but you don’t actually know her, do you?”

Oh. He really had no idea.

“She was Dai Shi’s general, yes,” RJ went on. “She was loyal to him - so loyal, in fact, she waited in a wall for ten thousand years until he returned. So loyal she turned down every opportunity to betray him. But you didn’t get to know her until the last days, and she certainly didn’t know you until - per Casey’s words - you rescued her and revealed yourself the day before the final battle. So tell me - why on Earth would she be the one you want to protect first and foremost?”

He was riling him up. Jarrod knew that - he’d seen enough of RJ’s methods to surmise that an intervention would not look like an intervention.

It didn’t mean his words didn’t sting, though. 

“I knew her better than you might think,” he muttered.

“Oh? Do tell.”

Silence.

“Come on. It’s not like we haven’t got anything better to do.”

*

But where could he begin with? Perhaps the earliest days, when Dai Shi would plunder his memories, forcing him to relive the most awful moments of his life? Or when the dragon would abandon him for nights at a time to build his strength, leaving him with nothing but nightmares? Or how, even when his body had been on the verge of breaking, the monster had forced him to push on, bringing out the worst of his own impulses?

Jarrod had been there from the beginning. But he had been so angry - so blind with betrayal - that he’d just listened to Dai Shi, following his nastiest instincts.

Camille had been the recipient of most of the ire back then. He remembered thinking, off-handedly, that she could kill him in his sleep, and she would probably be justified in doing so. 

Then, the night after she’d defeated Naja, he’d woken up - not as Dai Shi, but as a Jarrod - to find her standing on the edge of his bed with a glass in hand.

_ Finally. It’s over. _

He didn’t know until then that this is what he’d been hoping for. That he would push her to the brink, and force her hand. Dai Shi was still weak - he would not survive without a vessel. Perhaps the Rangers would succeed.

Then Camille had climbed into bed, wrestling him in a sitting position. He’d been weak then - weakened by fighting, exhausted from the possession - so she had to prop him up as she poured the liquid she’d brought down his throat. He expected something bitter… but all he remembered was the smell of her own skin, and how _ warm _ she’d felt. 

He’d always assumed her skin would be as cold as ice.

“What… what are you…?” he’d whispered then, as she lowered him back on the bed.

“Shhh…” Camille stroked his hair, as her eyes scanned the room for danger. “Go to sleep, human. Tomorrow’s not going to be easier.”

*

That were the only words they would exchange for a long time, and yet Jarrod had held onto them. At first, he assumed it was just trauma - his brain latching onto whatever pleasant thing it could, in order to cope. But then he’d realized this really was happening - that one of Dai Shi’s own generals was trying to help him. 

Oh, he knew it wasn’t for his own sake that this was going on. Camille probably thought she was protecting her Master’s Vessel. But it did something more - something worse.

It made him dream again.

Explaining that to RJ… he had no idea where to begin.

“She took care of me,” Jarrod said. “I’m sure she didn’t intend it that way, but without her help, I would have never been strong enough to resist Dai Shi, let alone fight him off.” Casey had given him the final push - the strength to throw off the Dark Master, once and for all. But it was Camille who had started the work.”

“So she did a good thing. We know she has a heart - that’s why she’s given a chance to start over, as are you. That doesn’t mean her wellbeing should trump yours, should it?”

“Why can’t I care equally for both?” Jarrod muttered.

“I’m not trying to patronize you,” RJ said. “I’m just pointing out the facts. Your body was possessed against your will. Dai Shi took advantage of you, in more ways than one. It’s not unusual, in cases like these, for you to trauma-bond to the nearest kind person.”

“So that’s what you think this is? Trauma-bonding?”

“You tell me. Is it?”

Jarrod opened his mouth to tell him about that last night - what Dai Shi had wanted him to do, what Camille had offered instead. How they had thrown both plans to the wind in favor of the least useful thing they could have done… 

But then he gave up.

He knew what RJ would say, anyway. He’d just be proving his point.

Hells, maybe this really was the trauma talking. Maybe, some day soon, he would wake up without thinking of her, or worrying about her, or reaching for her in his sleep. 

Maybe.

But that day was not today.

“It felt real enough,” Jarrod said, and left it there. 

After a while, RJ reached for the remote again. “Yeah,” the Wolf Master said. “It usually does.”

*

Camille, for her part, was washing dishes.

She hadn’t been intending to, but the thing about the refuge was - the fighting action was only 1% of the time. Everything else was a giant quest to defeat boredom - hers and her charges’. It was easy enough during the day when she could give them some physical exercises to get them to expand energy, but at night, all she had was her own company. 

The chores were the best thing she had on hand. 

There was a tap-tap of bare feet on the floor, and the Runaway - he had yet to tell them his name, or anything else for that matter - came inside the kitchen. Camille stared at him. He stared back. 

“Well…” she said, still unused to children “…I suppose you’ll be wanting a glass of water?”

The boy just stared. She dried her hands and went to the glass cabinet… but as she was walking by him, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. Gripped it, in fact, with a startling strength.

Runaway, though, seemed fixated on her palm. Or rather, the scar that was running alongside it.

“It’s okay,” she said, while slowly reaching for the communicator in her pocket with her other hand. “That was a long time ago.”

The boy looked up and said something too quickly for her to catch it.

“Huh?”

He stared. 

Then her brain caught up with her. He’d spoken in the language of the Rin Shi. 

Camille swallowed. Not only had he spoken the language of the Rin Shi, it was the old dialect. She hadn’t heard this in years. Not since…

…not since before she was sealed in that wall, actually.

_ “I’m sorry,” _ she asked, grasping for the words as if she were a child herself. _ “What did you ask of me?”_

_“Are you okay?” _ the boy whispered, looking down at her palm again.

Of course. He would know what that was from.

_ “Don’t worry,” _ Camille said, voice thick. _ “It was a long time ago.”_

_“Your master was displeased.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Mine was too.” _ The boy touched the crook of his elbow, still gripping her hand. Camille, making a quick decision, let go of the communicator and reached out to pull his sleeve up. Studying the scar she found there, she nodded. He wouldn’t like sympathy, this Runaway. No. Not if he was anything like her.

_ “It hurts when our Masters are displeased,” _ she said. _ “But it doesn’t have to hurt forever. We can make it stop.”_

_“How?”_

_“We… just do.” _ With perseverance and a whole lot of faith, but they could if they wanted to and that was what mattered. Camille pulled her wrist free, then took the boy by the hand. _ “My name is Camille. Will you tell me who you are?” _

The boy shook his head. He didn’t know.

Of course he wouldn’t.

She sighed. She’d have a lot to tell Tommy and Elsa when they woke up. She wasn’t looking forward to any of it. Oh, where was a good drink when you needed it? 

The Runaway just stood there, looking completely lost. Her heart clenched so tight, it felt like death. 

_ “Would you like some water, then?” _ Keeping calm had never been more difficult.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise.

Tommy Oliver had been doing this ranger thing for a while. Some might say he’d been doing it a little too long, but time was a bit relative - as he knew, given all he places he had been in his 20-odd years on the gig.

That didn’t stop him from being shocked or dismayed every now and again.

“The Rin Shi are not just gathering children for their fear?” 

Camille nodded. She’d brought one of the kids in first thing in the morning - the young boy who did not talk - and told them that they had to change their strategy, and change it fast. Elsa had raised an eyebrow at the idea that the kid had suddenly started talking - and in a language only Camille could understand, no less - until a demonstration had actually occurred, and the boy had rolled up his sleeve to show them the scarring. On Tommy’s request, Camille asked who had done this, but the child had shaken his head, replying the same thing, every time.

“Master…” Elsa muttered, pacing the room. “Why can’t those jerks come up with something unique every now and again?”

Tommy started to say something about evil not being very original, when he noticed Camille’s hands clenching and unclenching. You didn’t need a doctorate to tell she was on the edge. 

“Elsa…” he said, slowly. “Why don’t you take this young man—” he picked up the Runaway, hosting him in the air “—and go for a little walk around town together? Maybe a change of scenery would be fun - what do you think, Ms Chameleon? Is he up for it?”

The chameleon gave him a sour look, but asked the boy anyway.

He immediately perked up and said something back.

“If the walk into town involves ice cream,” she said, “then he’s in. Although I’m afraid what his friends might say if we show him preferential treatment.”

“We can bring enough for everybody,” Elsa said, opening her arms to take the child. “I’ll ask Anton to come and help. He’s feeling remorseful enough.”

Tommy smiled as she went off. Then, once her footsteps died down, he shut the door and turned to Camille. “Well,” he said. “He knows what ice cream is. That’s something, right?”

“But he’s been in captivity for long enough to all but forget human language,” she replied. Crossing her hands, she started pacing the room - taking the exact same route as Elsa had. “The others weren’t so badly off, but that doesn’t mean anything. They could just be the ones that didn’t make the cut.”

“Okay,” Tommy sat down. “Camille, we’re on the same team here. Slow down, and tell me from the beginning - what is this about.”

She sighed. Then, with a quick tug, she took off the gloves she was wearing and showed Tommy her hands, palms up. At first there was nothing there, nothing but smooth skin. But then the illusion lifted, and he saw, clear as day, the scars and the irregularities.

“Have these been there all this time?” he asked, trying not to sound as shocked as he felt.

“It’s a simple trick,” Camille said. “Simpler still, if you keep them covered.”

“But not if you touch them, I’m guessing.”

She winced, and pulled back. “No. Not if you touch them.”

He sat back. He knew, from his own experience, as well as Anton and Elsa’s, that you had to be patient in times like these. Still - there was something eerie about the way Camille went from extreme urgency to almost complete silence on a single subject. It was as if she had a mental block… or somebody was controlling her.

“I’m not trying to be difficult,” she said suddenly. “And the child isn’t being obtuse, either. They deliberately discourage you from using names… or having names, until you’ve proven yourself. It’s a hard habit to break.”

“Of course,” Tommy said.

“And I wasn’t keeping information from you, either,” she added. “I… genuinely thought this was ancient history. None of the beasts in my army did this and Dai Shi never encouraged it. I assumed… I hoped they’d given up.”

“Given up on what?”

“On…” Camille swallowed, sat down. “Some of us… the ones who fought the original Beast War… many of us were not actually born as monsters. There were humans who were persuaded to join the Rin Shi army. Some were forced, but many just… joined because they felt it was the strongest faction. Occasionally, they would give up children as well to train, if one was born with exceptional powers or a strong animal spirit. That was how I initially joined the war.”

She let that sit in the air, as if waiting to see what Tommy’s reaction would be. There was none. After a beat or two, Camille carried on. 

“How I ended up serving under Dai Shi doesn’t matter. He never liked humans, never approved of the practice. The only reason he didn’t destroy me was because I was more a beast than anybody else when we first met.”

“I just don’t get it,” Tommy muttered. “Why children? What could they possibly get from such an army?”

“Power,” Camille said. “A young beast can be a dangerous thing if left unchecked, and they liked to drive us to our limit. It wasn’t efficient,” she went on, looking away and clenching her hands together. “But it was worth it to them. They could harness great beasts and channel them into the generals, they decimated the human population, and occasionally…”

“Occasionally, the method produced warriors like you,” Tommy said.

“I’m not trying to garner sympathy,” Camille said. “The scar on the Runaway’s arm… the same ones I have… they’re made in a very specific way. He must have had some power, but they kept him behind with the children we rescued. They must have thought he wasn’t worth it anymore, or else they were still trying to break him.”

Tommy was silent. He wanted to say something… anything, to show her he understood and appreciated what she was telling him. But all he could think of was how casually she was talking of torture… and how detached she seemed to be from her own body as she said it. Was this what the Rin Shi were doing? Gathering children for this Master like… like human batteries?

He felt sick to his stomach. And they didn’t even have proper access to the morphing grid to go full Ranger on this jerk - just whatever leftover powers they had. 

“There is a third option,” he said, trying to focus on the now. 

“Which is?”

“They left that boy behind to lure us into a trap. Even if you didn’t recognize him, he would have spoken at some point.” Tommy started pacing, suddenly full of nervous energy. “Eventually, we would have figured it out. Who knows, they might even be trying to make us scared, or throw us off our guard. Goad us into doing something stupid. Does that sound like something these creatures would do?”

“It’s what I would have done,” she muttered. 

Tommy sighed. _ Open mouth, insert foot, Olive. _ “What I mean to say is, we can work this to our advantage. You know how these monsters work better than anyone. We can foil their plans if we proceed with a clear head.”

“And what would that look like? Aside from wearing a hole in the carpet, I mean?”

Good question. They could keep interrogating the boy, trying to get clues, while taking down various hiding spots. But that was risky - with every raid, they were only driving them deeper into hiding. They had to be stealthy. They had to find out…

“Camille,” Tommy sat down abruptly. “These creatures… where would they get children from now?”

She gave a wry smile. “Well, back then they didn’t have to do anything. Now…” Her expression turned dark, “…now, you might as well just ask the Pai Zhua where they recruit their own students from.”

*

Jarrod watched the streets go by, trying to suppress the nausea that was creeping up his spine. It had been years, and he was an adult now… yet the closer they got to their destination, the more he felt like a child - angry, scared, and completely helpless.

“I never thought I’d see this place again,” Casey muttered from the driving seat.

“Tell me about it.” He actually felt like he might throw up when he saw the signage appear. _ Ocean Bay Social Services and Family Re-Homing Center. _ “They almost make it look quaint.”

“Well, we don’t have to stay there long,” Casey said, more to himself than to anybody else. He parked, then reached in the backseat and threw something at Jarrod. “Here. RJ says it’ll be about your size.”

He looked down at the logo of the Pai Zhua… embroidered in purple thread on a black background. “I don’t need this,” he said, trying to hand it back. “I… I haven’t earned the right to wear these yet. And anyway, I’m not RJ.”

Casey looked like he might just order him to put it on, but then he caught himself and said, instead, “It’s just a disguise. We need this for today, okay? Think of it as… as going to a Halloween party with no costume, and a friend letting you borrow their spare one.”

“Your friends carry spare Halloween costumes?”

“We’ve had weirder things happen.”

Jarrod wasn’t convinced in the least, but… Casey was right. They were not going to accomplish what they were here to do if they just went up to the front desk as themselves. They needed an official reason, and… well, this was as official as they could get without breaking any laws.

When RJ had come in the common room this morning, Jarrod had honestly not expected him to have such a task for them. Or that he would be asked to help at all. But now, standing in front of the Social Services building, he felt like it was finally a good time to ask:

“How do we even know their charges are disappearing?”

“We don’t,” Casey replied, straightening up his jacket. “But someone told us to check it out.”

And who was that someone? He wanted to ask but they were walking up to the door now, and the security guard was coming to intercept them. Jarrod tensed, waiting for him to demand documents or a reason for them to be there… and then the man’s eyes focused on the Pai Zhua insignia and his demeanor changed immediately. “I, er…” he coughed “Excuse me, I’ll get Mrs Connor.”

“Mrs Connor—” Casey swallowed audibly, as the man ambled to the telephone and dialed. “That’s a name I didn’t expect to hear soon.”

“You met her, too?” Jarrod asked.

“Yeah… met her… that’s one way to put it.” Casey straightened up his jacket again. “I guess she must be the connection here, huh?”

“Guess so.” What a strange thing, Jarrod thought. And yet, was it really so strange? The more he thought about it, the more sense it made that he and Casey might have the same social worker. After all, someone had to tell the Masters when a potential student arrived.

“Casey Rhodes!” A loud, booming voice echoed in the lobby. As one, the two younger men turned to meet Mrs Connor - a diminutive lady in a zebra print dress and a smile that could kill a lion at a thousand paces. “As handsome as ever! I hear only good feedback from the academy!”

“I… er… thank you,” Casey blushed. “I’m very grateful, Mrs. Connor.”

“Oh, please, call me Madeline. I always knew you would go far!” she said. Then she paused, and frowned. “And… er…”

“Jarrod,” he coughed. “Jarrod Skinner. I was here about eleven years ago.”

“Yes, I remember.” Mrs Connor’s expression turned cold. “I see you’re still at the academy. That is… good. Definitely a surprise, though.”

“Mrs Connor,” Casey stepped in, “Can we buy you a coffee? It’s been so long, and it would be great to catch up before we… discuss what we came here for.”

“Oh, you’re lovely,” she said, beaming again. “I’ve only got half an hour, though.”

“We can get it to takeaway,” Casey said, nodding at Jarrod. “We even have bamboo cups we can use, for the environment.”

“You’re always so sweet,” she laughed, squeezing his hand as the two walked ahead. 

Jarrod trailed behind them like a miserable shadow. Of course, he thought. It was just like Casey to be the teacher’s pet.

*

Mrs Connor was one of those people who, given enough time, would tell you their life story. The real trouble, Casey thought as they walked in the gardens, was if you didn’t have much time yourself.

“So…” he said, watching Jarrod with the corner of his eye. “How’s work?”

“Oh, you know, busy, darling,” she sighed dramatically. “The placements were always going to be difficult, but my goodness, sometimes the couples are the worst. Children—” she waved her hand toward a group playing not too far away from them “—they can be difficult, but they are resilient. Some adults, though, they really should not have become parents.”

Jarrod stiffened next to them, and Casey would have sworn, he heard a Lion growl.

“Er… that’s sad,” he said.

“Do they ever try to come here?” Jarrod asked. “I mean, to see the kids outside of regular hours.”

“Some do,” Mrs Connor said, toying with her cup. “Some go as far as snatching them in the night, which is a terrible practice, and not even remotely successful. They always get caught and it always hurts them more in the end. See? That one—” she pointed at a little girl, who was getting in an argument with some of the other kids “—she should have been placed ages ago, but she keeps sabotaging herself because she believes her mother would try to _ save her _ again. Some adults are so selfish.”

Jarrod looked positively murderous. Casey wondered how he might rescue this conversation, when his companion handed him his cup and said, “Looks like things are getting heated over there. I’ll go and see if I can help.”

“Wait—”

But he was off.

Casey braced himself to jump in, but something happened as Jarrod walked across the lawn. His shoulders relaxed and his steps became lighter. You could see it from his posture - it was as if he was a completely different person. Walking up to the arguing children, he knelt down to their levels and started speaking in a low voice. Little by little, the angry faces became confused, then curious. Within minutes, the children were talking to him, one over the other, pointing at the various swings and climbing jungles, and gesticulating as if they were defending a thesis on playgrounds.

“Well, would you look at that,” Mrs Connor muttered. The little girl she’d pointed out - the one who apparently could not move on - asked something. Jarrod nodded, stood to the side, then executed a series of jumps, higher and higher in the air, before landing upside down, holding himself up on his good hand. 

The crowd, as Flit would have said, went wild.

“I… wow.” Casey literally had no words. Not because of what Jarrod was doing - he could probably execute it better - but he’d never though the Lion would be… well… playful. Show-off, maybe, but _ this _ (Jarrod simulated losing his balance and flailing, before jumping safely to his feet) this was almost sweet. “I didn’t know he had it in him.”

“No, I suppose not.” Mrs Connor smiled sadly - the first real smile she’d had since they arrived, Casey thought. “You know, I remember every case that’s ever landed on my desk. If you asked me which one of my kids would end up clowning around… I certainly wouldn’t have chosen Mr Skinner here.”

He remembered then, what Dom had said about Jarrod back when he had arrived. Quiet, withdrawn… parents not around. “Was he not very nice?” he asked.

“Oh, no. He was perfectly polite, when he could be persuaded to open his mouth.” Mrs Connor sighed. “But he was definitely having trouble adjusting. You get those kids, too… they’re forced to grow up too soon, and then they’re shocked when they realize that’s not the state of the world at all. Jarrod honestly thought he could live forever the way he had been… but I suppose that’s ancient history.” She paused. “You know, that little girl might be a good fit for Pai Zhua. She has some skill.” 

Across the playground, the kids started chanting something. Cartwheel, cartwheel, cartwheel. The little girl said something to Jarrod, and the two stood side by side in the grass. Then they… well, started cartwheeling.

He gave up after three goes, cradling his hand. But she just kept going, and as she executed five, ten, fifteen revolutions, Casey saw it - the shimmer of a spirit.

“You know, you’re probably right,” Casey said. “I can speak to the Masters.”

“She will be pleased,” Mrs Connor said. “Her brother would have been a great candidate too.” Her eyes darkened. “Unfortunately, his mother got him before I could even send word out.”

“His mother?”

“Mmm. That’s why she’s stuck, you see. Her brother got rescued, so now she’s sure that it is only a matter of time before she’s saved, too. Nonsense, of course. But try explaining that to a child.”

Casey’s head span. “Mrs Connor… how often do parents try to snatch their kids back?”

“Oh, not very often,” she said. “To be honest, I’ve been sending a lot more kids your way than before, but you guys barely acknowledge the arrivals. I… Casey? Are you okay?”

*

Back in the car, Casey said: “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody your secret.”

“Secret?” Jarrod asked.

“Your interest in becoming a circus superstar. You’ll have to work on your cartwheels, though. That last show was pathetic.”

The teasing was well-natured, but it felt forced. Jarrod frowned, as Casey put the key in the ignition, but did not start the car. “I found out something. I’m guessing you did too.”

“Yeah,” the Tiger Master said. “And I don’t know how we’re going to tell RJ about it…” He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “Seems like Mrs Connor was sending kids to Pai Zhua… but as far as I know, we haven’t had new arrivals at all since last summer. None in the beginner classes, anyway.”

Jarrod sucked in a deep breath. That was bad indeed - usually, Pai Zhua were very diligent about the students who got sent into the Order, but last summer had been different. Last summer, the world had been under threat, the Power Rangers were needed, and everybody had been on high alert… and someone was taking advantage.

Trying to stave off the guilt that was threatening to swallow him whole, Jarrod said: “Gabriella - that little girl back there - said she’d seen monsters lurking in the forest, but none of her friends listened. She was afraid her brother and mother might have been victims to one.”

“We need to set up a patrol,” Casey said. “If there are any Phantom Beasts left behind, or Rin Shi… we need to find out what happened, and get to the bottom of this mess.”

Jarrod nodded. Then, when Casey finally started the car, he asked: “Who tipped you off? Who told you about this?”

“Another Ranger team,” Casey said.

“Which one.”

“Does it matter?”

“No rangers showed up while Dai Shi was still active,” Jarrod said. “And yet now they are dealing with enemies similar to ours. How did they even trace them here? And how would they know children were disappearing from this institute?”

“Children might have been disappearing from other places, too.”

“That doesn’t explain…”

“Look, I can’t tell you where the information came from. But it is legitimate,” Casey changed gears and revved the engine to catch a green light. “It came from somebody who’s been inside of this.”

_ Yeah, _ Jarrod thought, his throat contracting painfully. _ I thought so too. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise.

“So, to recap,” RJ said, as they debriefed at the end of the day, “Somebody is stealing children. And not just any children, but children with powerful animal spirits, potential Pai Zhua students. And nobody cottoned on until now?”

“Apparently they had no reason to be suspicious,” Lily, who had gone to the Ocean Bluff Police Station, said. She looked angry enough to punch a hole in the table. Theo reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. “Of course they wouldn’t… it was the one place they knew kids could go and would be fine.”

Jarrod didn’t know what to say. He was still reeling, still trying not to disappear into a well of his own self-recrimination. If he hadn’t been possessed by Dai Shi… if he hadn’t unleashed all this evil into the world…

“But why?” Casey asked. “Did the other Ranger team say nothing more, RJ?”

“They weren’t sure themselves,” the Wolf Master said. “They just asked us to check things out quietly, and let them know what we find.”

“Quietly?” Lily stared at him. “You can’t just expect us to ignore this, do you?”

“Lil, he didn’t say that,” Theo muttered.

“Well, it sounds like he did. And I’m telling you now, you can forget about it.”

“I’m with Lily on this one,” Casey said. “We can’t just ignore what’s happening. Jarrod… you were possessed by Dai Shi. Was there anything in his memories - anything at all that can explain this?”

Why did he have to call on him now? Of all the times he wanted to be helpful… “I didn’t sit in his memories,” Jarrod said. “And he steered clear from mine.”

“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” RJ said. “Dai Shi was a proper believer in his cause. He would have had no use for children.”

“No…” a tiny voice came from the door. “But other beasts did.”

They turned to find Flit standing there, eyes hidden behind large black glasses. Nonetheless, his whole being excluded sadness. RJ, setting his work down, went up to the little man and said gently: “Flit… is there anything you can tell us about this? Anything at all?”

“I don’t want to,” he said. “But… if it’s happening again, then you need to know. You need to stop it.”

*

Camille knew Elsa would find her as soon as Tommy filled her in. It made sense, didn’t it? One evil henchwoman to another, this was the kind of stuff they ought to be bonding over. And yet, when the knock did come, it took all her strength not to disappear into the wall. 

“Hey,” Elsa said, as she flipped the light on. “We brought about a tonne of pistachio and chocolate back from the city. We can’t eat all that by ourselves.”

“Sure,” Camille said, hoping against hope that the other woman would take the hint and leave. “I’ll be right down.”

“The guys told me you haven’t been out of here all day. They’re kind of losing control of the kids.”

“Not a single fight broke out all day. They’re doing great.”

Tap-tap-tap. Elsa appeared in her light of vision. Not attempting any hugs, thankfully, but definitely making her presence known. _ Brilliant. _ “I heard about the change in plans. It seems like a solid idea.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Camille said. “It depends on what the other Pai Zhua masters decide to do.”

“About the kidnappers?”

“About allowing us to join forces.” Her first instinct had been to race back to Ocean Bluff and fight there, but Tommy didn’t think it was time. And, perhaps from a practical viewpoint, it was true - she’d participated in two raids. Her smell would be associated with the enemy. If she showed up in Ocean Bluff, it could drive the enemy further underground, possibly for years…

“They probably have a point,” Elsa said, when she conveyed all of that to her. “We have an opportunity to catch them now. If they hide, how much longer until we pick up their trail?”

“I’m not saying the reasoning is bad,” Camille huffed. “I just don’t know if the rangers themselves are that much more stealthy in their approach. At least I can blend into walls!”

“You can’t do everything,” Elsa said.

No. Perhaps she couldn’t. But it didn’t stop her from wanting to.

“I heard about… what happened to you, too.”

Camille tensed up.

“Look… I’m not trying to pry. If you don’t feel like talking about it, then we won’t talk about it. I just wanted you to know it’s okay.”

“Okay?”

“To feel however you’re feeling right now. I’m not going to pretend that I know… but I wanted to tell you I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I don’t see what is there to talk about,” Camille whispered. “It happened. It’s over. I went to a new Master, and then, he tried to destroy me, and now I’m here. I got to turn over a new leaf.”

“That’s right.”

“I did get stronger, you know. The line between human and beast was always tenuous and I crossed it twice. That says something, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“And anyway, what difference does it make? It’s been ten thousand years. I need to get over it.”

“Do you?” Elsa asked, cocking her head. “Or is that what you think you’re supposed to say?”

“What difference does that make?”

Silence fell for a while. Camille tried to get her temper back under control. It was difficult, though. Something had cracked open last night, and she couldn’t cram the feelings back where they had come from, no matter how hard she tried. 

“I’m sorry,” she said, finally. “I don’t mean to take it out on you.”

“You don’t need to apologize.” Elsa pushed herself off the window sill and smiled. “Not for this.”

“I’m trying to… to re-learn,” Camille said. “How to do this whole human thing. But I…”

“But it doesn’t come easy to you. And why would it? You spent so long convincing yourself you are one of the bad guys, you start to make up new memories. They don’t even have to brainwash you in the end - you do all of that yourself.”

Camille shuddered. “I don’t want pity.”

“No,” Elsa said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that I’m ungrateful…”

“It’s just that it’s not my comfort you want.” Elsa gave a sad smile. “Yeah. I know.” Patting her shoulder, she got up and left, leaving Camille to stare out into the garden and trying to stop herself from crying.

*

_ Toward the end, she had been afraid to go into Dai Shi’s bedchamber. The dragon left Jarrod for longer and longer periods of time, but the other monsters wee growing suspicious. Scorch and Snapper were hounding her every step, trying to catch her out, and she was finding it easy to blend into her surroundings than to walk as is. Worse, she could tell Jarrod was coming through - those flashes of humanity were not Dai Shi, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise. For all she knew, the human could break through and kill her one of these days, and she would have no-one to blame but herself. _

_The sleeping draught had been giving him time to recover his strength and build up resilience to Dai Shi. She could pretend otherwise all she wanted, but it was the truth. _

_Still… she kept making the draught. _

_One night, she entered the chamber, only to find Jarrod wide awake. She tried to blend in the wall, but before she could summon the illusion, he turned and saw her._

_Camille held her breath, but Jarrod didn’t say a word. Instead, he held out his hand to her._

_Don’t be silly, he just wants to sleep. Still, her steps were a little more timid than usual as she came up and handed the glass over._

_“So this is it…” he’d whispered. He needn’t have bothered - nobody cared about the noises coming from Dai Shi’s quarters. He’d been screaming in his sleep for weeks on end and the only person who had gone to help was… well… _

_Camille didn’t reply, as he stared at the draught, watching the steam rise toward the ceiling. What could she say? That this wasn’t fair? That she understood? Why bother? The least she could do was not tell him lies._

_“I wish I could disappear during the day as well,” Jarrod whispered, sitting up. “You can make that happen, can’t you?”_

_Was that what he really wanted? _

_She must not have kept the question from showing on her face, because he just smiled. “No… I guess it isn’t.” Then he drank the sleeping draught in one gulp, wincing as it went down. _

_Camille didn’t know what got into her - maybe it was the emotion of the last few defeats, or the shock of having him speak to her so casually - but instead of leaving as soon as he returned the glass, she took his hand in hers. _

_Jarrod stared at their palms, then laced his fingers through hers and squeezed._

_She sat by his side all night. _

*

In the morning, Casey came down to the kitchen for prep duty, only to find Jarrod at the work table already, next to a mountain of cut vegetables.

“Hey… did you sleep at all?” 

Judging by the way he jumped and dropped the bell pepper he’d been holding… probably.

“Should you even be handling sharp objects?” He grabbed the offending vegetable and went to wash it.

“I guess I lost track of time,” Jarrod said, rubbing his hand over his face. “I just thought I’d get an early start.”

“How early are we talking about?”

Jarrod squinted at the window. “It was still dark when I started.”

Casey shook his head. But really… anybody would have lost sleep, after what Flit had told them. “Well, take five. I’ll take over for the dough.”

“I need to exercise my arm.” 

“If you over-exercise, it’ll take longer to heal.” Casey pulled out the ingredients and cleared out the workspace. Then he noticed Jarrod was still standing there. “Do I have to make it an order?”

“Sorry.” He pulled up a chair. “I don’t know what my problem is.”

“You have a conscious. Although I wouldn’t call that a problem.” Casey started mixing the ingredients, then added, “We will fix this. Moreover, there are two ranger teams on this now. We’ll get these monsters, whomever they are.”

“Let me ask you this,” Jarrod said. “Is Camille with that other ranger team?”

Casey pursed his lips. “Yes. But that’s all I know, so don’t ask me where they’re at or…”

“I know. That’s… not why I asked.”

Silence.

“She told them, didn’t she? About what those children were being used for. That’s why RJ sent us to check the Social Services bureau and… and all the rest.”

“I guess so. RJ doesn’t tell me everything.”

_ That came out a little too bitter. _

If Jarrod picked up on it at all, he didn’t say. But Casey felt his face burn nonetheless.

“What I mean to say is…” he babbled on “…RJ hears about what happens from the other Masters, and I don’t even know if they even know… and you don’t care, do you?”

“I do care. But I also accept the Masters’ judgment. Who knows, maybe they’re right. Maybe I need to forget… or get over her at least.”

Casey raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you mean that.”

Jarrod didn’t reply.

Casey tossed the dough on the work table and split it in two. “Here,” he said. “We can divvy up the load.”

As the two worked, Casey couldn’t help noticing Jarrod… well… spacing out. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the stress of the last 24 hours, but there was something off about him - both a nervous energy and exhaustion combined into one. If he didn’t know better, Casey would have thought that the other man was reverting to his old self.

He was so lost in thought, he was startled when Jarrod spoke next.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Um… sure. Shoot.”

“How do you know a feeling is real?”

Casey nearly dropped the dough he was holding. “Um… what?”

“How do you know a feelings is real?” If it had been anybody else - anybody less serious - this would have sounded as a joke. Jarrod made it sound like a matter of life and death. “You made a lot of decisions on little other than a hunch, Casey. You risked your life because your gut told you to. How do you even know when those feelings are real?”

“Well…” That was true. And yet, somehow, incorrect. “It’s not a hunch. I… it’s a lot of things.”

“Such as?”

“Um… memories? History? Noticing details?”

That didn’t seem to comfort Jarrod in the least. “But what if you’re not sure about your memories?” he muttered. “What if everything you do is based on a lie?”

“Where is all of this coming from?”

No answer came for a while. Then, the other man spoke up: “In the compound, Camille used potions and draughts to help me get through the nights. At the same time, Carnisoar messed with my memories, altering them to fit more in with what Dai Shi was already telling me. I… I used to think I knew what happened, but now I’m wondering…”

Casey winced. “Look, Carnisoar was awful, no doubt about that. But Camille risked her life to protect you. I don’t think she was trying to do you harm.”

“I don’t think she was, either,” Jarrod said. “But the compounded effect of it all…”

Yeah. That.

Casey searched his head for an answer that was neither presumptuous nor condescending. “I don’t know everything that happened,” he said. “But I’m guessing Camille must have known the potions would make you stronger eventually. And she must have known Dai Shi would disapprove if he learned.”

“He would have had her destroyed.”

“So why do it? She could not have known how things would turn out, so why risk so much?” Casey threw another lot of dough on the table and split it in two. “That’s how I know,” he added. “It’s not the big picture, although that helps, too. It’s the details that matter.”

“That’s the thing,” Jarrod said. “I’m not even sure I’ve got all my details right. RJ says they could all just be the result of trauma.”

He clenched the dough a little too hard, sending it splattering across the worktop. “RJ,” he said, reaching for the scraper, “Is a great mentor. Most of the time. “

“I sense a ‘but’ coming up.”

Casey smiled, wanly. “He’s not the most reliable one when it comes to the emotional stuff. Just saying.”

“Is this to do with your ongoing college dispute?”

“It’s not so much a dispute as it is raging disapproval.” Now he really couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Just that he turned into a massive douche overnight, and I can’t even blame it on his wolf side being out of control.”

Jarrod didn’t reply. His silence, though, was attentive. Inviting Casey to speak up.

Or maybe he was just being overly optimistic.

“RJ never says anything straightforwardly,” Casey went on, kneading. “He thinks that you need to reach the answers yourself. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t lean a bit heavily on the answers he expects you to find, sometimes. And… well, he’s wrong. I mean, not always, but enough times to make you take his teachings with a grain of salt.”

“Sounds like more than just a grain for you,” Jarrod said.

Yeah. He was taking the shaker, the jar, the entire Salt Flats. Casey looked for his Mastely wisdom, wherever it was supposed to reside, and then gave up. “What I’m saying—” he started, then frowned “—is that the sun doesn’t rise and set with RJ’s opinion. Even if he would really like it to. Obviously, you need to figure out a lot, but don’t automatically doubt your feelings because he said so.”

“Is that what he said to you? That your feelings weren’t real?”

Casey winced again. “Yeah,” he said. “He didn’t think that I should try and rescue you when I did, and then tried to play if off as being part of my Master test.”

“Did he do the same thing when you told him you liked him?”

Casey looked up, startled. “How did you… how did you know that?”

Jarrod shrugged. 

The Tiger Master felt - not for the first time - a little foolish. “I guess I’m not as good at hiding it as I thought.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jarrod said. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell, if the circumstances were different.”

“Misery seeks itself out, huh?” Casey sighed, then got back to work. “You’re right, though. RJ… doesn’t think much of me at all.”

“That doesn’t seem to be the case,” Jarrod said. “If anything, he seems to care about you a great deal.”

“Yeah, as a colleague maybe. Not as a… a…”

“Lover?”

He was thinking along the lines of ‘something more’, but… well… that worked too. “Sometimes, I wish I never opened my mouth,” Casey said. “And sometimes, I just wish he rejected me like a normal person.”

“Instead of?”

“Adding insult to injury.”

“Ah…” Jarrod pondered this. “Would the rejection really help?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes, I think it would.” Casey didn’t expect advice - in fact, he fully anticipated the other man to switch off. But instead, Jarrod was making him reflect on stuff that he wasn’t used to bringing up, even with Lily and Theo. “When someone rejects you—” Casey said “—it hurts for a while, but then you can heal and move on. But when someone just refuses to take you seriously, you’re stuck. You can’t prove them wrong because they won’t let you, and you can’t let it go because they’re still there and they’re acting like everything is the same. It… it’s messed up.”

It was, wasn’t it? It sounded even worse out loud than when Casey just pondered it in his head.

“Just ignore me,” he said. “I guess I’m nervous because I thought we were done fighting and… well… we’re not.”

Jarrod tossed another lot of dough on the table. “Speaking of… what’s the next step in getting these guys?”

“Well—” Casey said “—we can’t charge a random location… and we haven’t got anybody to confront. We can alert Pai Zhua contacts that someone is working under our noses, but our best bet would probably be to stake out a few locations. It’ll be a stretch with the jobs and study, though.”

“We can be smart about it,” Jarrod said. “Your college is right next to the courthouse and the main social services hub. You could potentially keep an eye on it.”

“Yeah, during the daytime, maybe. Unless—” Casey frowned.

“What is it?” 

“I… well, technically, I can apply for a place to stay in the dorm. It’ll cost me, but I’ll be able to be there all the time, maybe even learn more about the area.”

Jarrod nodded. “That sounds sensible. But you look like you would rather pull your own teeth out than do it.”

“Sorry, I’m just… imagining what RJ might say.” Casey made a face. “He’ll agree, but… it’s going to be extremely unpleasant.”

The two worked in silence for a while. Then, Jarrod said, “At the risk of coming off as a massive hypocrite, I think you’re forgetting something important.”

“Which is?”

“You don’t need anybody’s permission to move on.” 

Casey snorted. Jarrod raised his hands. “Yes, I know: pot, meet kettle. I’m just saying…” he swallowed, as if the words burned his throat “…if Camille never wanted to see me again, she wouldn’t need written permission to do it.”

“And if you didn’t want to see _ her _ ever again…”

“I would also do the same. I don’t _ want _ to,” he clarified, “but the principle is the same.”

“Yeah… we’re good on the principles. Not so much on the doing.”

Jarrod shook his head. “I’m not telling you what to do, Casey. I’m just saying…”

“Yeah. I know.” The Tiger Master nodded. “Thank you. I’ll… I’ll think about it.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise. This is a fan work, for fun only.

They did try to warn them a stakeout was going to be difficult. 

Which was why Jarrod had no-one but himself to blame when he and Lily found themselves sitting in a library, staring at the forest near the juvenile detention center, bored to tears.

They had newspapers they couldn’t read, it was too quiet to have an inconspicuous conversation, and they didn’t even know what the enemy looked like. Sure, there were times when they thought they saw something, but by the time one of them went out to investigate, it was abundantly clear that it was just a family reunion happening, or something of a similar nature. 

“Do you think we’re wasting our time?” Lily asked in a low voice, after Jarrod returned from his turn outside.

“Maybe,” he replied. “But we don’t have that many options, do we?”

“No, I suppose not.” She glanced down at her newspaper, turned a page, but only putting minimal effort in the illusion. “Is this bringing bad memories for you as well?”

“Like nothing else.”

“Thought so.”

They managed to sit together for a full thirty minutes, before Jarrod got antsy and said: “Aren’t you worried about what would happen if we have to get into a fight?”

“The others are just a phone call away.”

Yes, but he’d gotten his ass handed to him in training several times, meaning he would be a useless back-up. Unless he was just fodder for the monsters.

“Any chance I can go back to class soon?” he asked.

“What’s stopping you?” 

That gave him pause. 

“I… thought I needed permission from the Masters to do that.”

“To return as a cub, maybe. But you can train with us.”

Jarrod pondered this. “You guys are all bucking RJ lately.”

“Yes, well… we have some disagreements about what is an appropriate response to this problem.” She shrugged. “The older Masters think we don’t need to bring you in on this. Theo, Casey, and I disagree. RJ is stuck in the middle.”

“But I released Dai Shi.”

“And then you stopped him. And now we’re dealing with someone who has been exploiting weaknesses in the Pai Zhua system.” Lily gritted her teeth. “If you ask me, we need all the help we can get here.”

He wondered if it was appropriate for him to ask what her story was. Fortunately, before he could do that, something outside attracted their attention. A group of kids was coming out of the center… and, in the park across, something was lumbering in the shadows. Something dark, and big, and definitely not human.

“Is that…” he started, but Lily was out of her seat already, racing outside.

*

She morphed in mid-run, charging at the dino-drones without even a glance back to see where Jarrod was. They whirled on her only to meet the Jungle Mace, as she span around and tackled them. 

She would win them. She would take them out. She would end this today.

“Lily!” Jarrod’s voice cut through the air, but she was too busy fighting to notice what was going on.

That was, until one of the drones threw her across the clearing they were in, and she caught sight of her companion - unmorphed, and getting his ass kicked.

“Damn it…” Lily hissed and pressed two fingers against the side of her helmet. “Theo! Casey! We need some help over here.”

At least the kids were getting away - she could see them retreating quickly further into the park. A few more minutes and they would be in the clear, if they could just get to the busy road. As the drones turned on her again, and she span the Jungle Mace around her, Lily saw Jarrod getting punched again. Why wasn’t he morphing? Or fighting back, for that matter?

She was about to tackle the drones that were fighting him when another monster stepped in front of her. It turned its massive serpentine head and hissed at her.

“Yellow ranger… so good to see you again.”

Lily growled. “I don’t know who you are,” she said, raising her weapons. “And I don’t really care.”

“You will, soon enough.” Then it raised its weapon - a sword with a dragon wrapped around it - summoning an explosion all around them. It threw Lily, Jarrod, and several of the drones up in the air, while also raising a huge dust cloud.

When the smoke cleared, the drones were gone, and so were the kids they were trying to save. Lily de-morphed, and hobbled over to where Jarrod lay.

“Get up,” she coughed, as she approached. “Damn it, Jarrod, what happened there?”

No reaction at all. She felt a chill run down her spine as she took a closer look at him. His chest was rising and falling, and she couldn’t see any serious injury on him. But his eyes were open wide, and when she called his name out, he did not respond.

*

RJ entered the main training room, exhausted, dirty, and more than a little irritated. Casey, Lily, and Theo rushed him, but he held up a hand. 

“Jarrod’s alive,” he said. 

“What do you mean?!” Lily yelled. “RJ, he was catatonic out there. I had to summon a Zord to carry him over here, and even then he—”

“I said he’s alive,” RJ interrupted her. “Not that he was fine. Now… whose idea was it to charge at these drones without waiting for back-up?”

Theo and Casey turned to their counterpart. Lily looked - for the first time all day - actually flustered. “I… we couldn’t wait. There were kids in danger.”

“Were the enemies attacking then?”

“I… no, not when we saw them.”

“So… you could have called for back-up and waited, but you went in anyway.” RJ nodded to himself. “Did you see Jarrod try to morph?”

“No. I was busy fighting. As I am supposed to,” she felt compelled to add, even though in theory, neither of her teammates could accuse her of being a coward.

“I understand that, Lily,” RJ said. “What I’m trying to figure out is why Jarrod got thrown in the deep end like that.”

“He’s not incompetent,” she said.

“No. But he is recovering, both from a serious injury and a massive ordeal. I asked you two to simply observe the center, not to play heroes.” 

Lily threw her arms out. “There were kids in danger.”

“And now there are likely to be even more so, because the enemy knows we’re onto them. I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, Lily. All I want is to figure out what they know so that we can plan our next steps.”

“You want to know something? Okay - that monster said he knew me.”

“And does he?”

“I… I don’t know. I’d never seen him before.”

RJ nodded. “Okay then. Thank you. Perhaps you guys should rest up - we won’t be able to make our next move until Jarrod wakes up, anyway.”

Lily stormed off, followed by Theo. However, Casey lingered behind.

“Just get it over with,” RJ said.

“No… I… I’m not here to argue.” The Red Ranger dug through his pocket and held out a folded letter. “I just wanted to give you this.”

RJ stared at the document being presented to him with no small amount of dismay. Yet, despite knowing exactly what it contained, he still asked Casey what the purpose of this was.

“Look,” the Tiger Master said, blushing to the roots of his hair, “I was on the fence about this, but we really need someone to keep an eye on Social Service Hub, and we need them to be there around the clock. It makes sense for me to go.”

“Yes, I heard that bit,” RJ picked up the letter and held it up, scanning the contents. “But what I meant was, why are you giving me your notice.”

Casey stared at him, as if that bit was self-explanatory. RJ stared back.

“Look,” he said, finally, “I appreciate that we need to stake out the place, and I appreciate that there will be disruptions. You don’t need to give up your job here.”

“I thought about this,” Casey said. “Really, I did. I don’t like to give up on anything, but you were right. I need to balance things out and… well… you’ve got Flit and Jarrod now, they’ll be fill in for me just fine.”

RJ pursed his lips. He wanted to argue further… but every avenue he thought of only made him and Casey into dangerous territory. A territory which he, himself, had made fraught. _ Talk about painting yourself into a corner, _ he thought.

“Very well,” he said. “We will miss you… but I appreciate that this has been a difficult decision.”

Casey looked simultaneously relieved and disappointed… if such a thing even was possible. “Thanks, RJ.”

“When are you… considering moving in?” 

“Oh, they approved my application yesterday. I can get the keys on Friday.”

Which meant he’d be moving in as early as the weekend. RJ forced a smile. “Okay then. I’ll make sure there’s at least one car available to you to move your stuff.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Oh no, I insist.” His face was starting to hurt, but he persevered. “It’s the least we can do for you.”

“Ah… okay then.”

“You should probably start packing.” He was _ not _ going to feel guilty over this. He refused.

“Er… okay. Um… with your permission then.”

“Permission granted.” RJ sank down in his chair and switched on the television. Ah - beautiful, convenient distractions.

No sooner had Casey left, though, that he sensed another presence. He stared at the screen for a while, pretending not to notice. But then, he gave up. 

“Flit, if you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

The former minion tiptoed out of the shadows and hopped on a spare chair. “You know, I don’t mean to pry, but we all live on top of each other here… er… not really… what I mean is that I wasn’t eavesdropping. I just noticed.”

“Yes, and?”

“And… I know Jarrod mentioned this before… but what the hell is with you and Casey?”

Sighing, RJ shook his head. “It’s complicated.”

*

He was lying.

The reality was all too prosaic, and if RJ was to rate it like an episode of a soap opera, he would have given it a 3 out of 10. Still… just because something was predictable didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, and RJ’s status as Master and Mentor didn’t do jack shit in the end to protect him from cliche. 

Still… he liked to think he’d done well.

He’d managed to keep things professional while they were still fighting Dai Shi, at least.

But then the final battle _ had _ occurred, the Rangers _ had _ defeated the dragon, they had all _ survived _ and now he was faced with a dilemma about his own feelings.

While Jarrod had been recovering in the Pai Zhua wing, and the other Masters were deciding his fate and Camille’s, RJ had returned to Jungle Karma. On someone’s suggestion - Dominic, probably - they’d hung up the “closed” sign one night, and celebrated with spicy pasta and beers. As far as victory parties went, it was pretty tame, but they were all still injured and weak. 

That would have been fine, or it would have been. There was a weird energy to the whole proceedings, not least because Theo and Lily looked like they would rather be anywhere but there. Fran and Dominic made a valiant effort to keep the various conversations going, but when each topic fell flat, the two eventually went back to their own little world, leaving everyone else to stew in their own awkwardness. 

Eventually, RJ made an excuse to go upstairs. 

He’d been planning to go for a nap, really. Instead, he picked up one of the books that Dom had left lying around and he’d sat down to read. That was how Casey had found him.

“The world must be coming to an end,” the Tiger Master said. “If you’re having a quiet moment.”

“I resent that characterization.”

Casey padded over and peered over RJ’s shoulder. “That’s the book Fran gave Dom,” he said. “He was reading it the day we freed Jarrod.”

“Ah, so I have this to blame for the events of the past week.” He ignored the way his heart rate picked up. Or tried to, anyway. “I suppose it all turned out for the best, although I can’t see how anybody would read this story and thing: Gee, what a great day to buck authority.”

“It’s a story of standing up for your beliefs,” Casey said. His breath tickled RJ’s ear.

“Uh-huh. And what else?”

“And… redemption?”

“Don’t read the sequel, kiddo.” He flicked through the book. “In fact, don’t read the book, either. I’m afraid you won’t like the rest of the story.”

The Tiger Master sighed. Then, the next thing RJ knew, he was pulling up a chair and sitting across from him.

This was bad.

RJ hadn’t lived this long without learning a thing or ten about human nature. Sometimes, picking up on subtle changes in a person was the difference between life and death. Casey felt like a tidal shift had occurred… and it had nothing to do with having Master’s stripes.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

He should have left. There were excuses aplenty - it was too quiet downstairs, his father expected him, he could smell pizza burning. But no… he stood rooted in place, as if his legs had forgotten how to work.

And it wasn’t going to be a casual chat, either. Even if RJ had no idea, Casey was telegraphing his feelings like a cub in his first training session. 

“I didn’t say anything before because… well, it wasn’t a good time.”

“Yeah, it seems like we couldn’t get time for anything before,” RJ nodded, tapping his fingers against the book. “Speaking of which, do you think the others are fine downstairs? You could cut the tension between Theo and Lily with a knife. We should check on them…” He started to rise, then Casey reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.

“They’ll be fine for a minute more.” 

RJ was about to ask what was it that Casey wanted to do, when the younger man leaned in and kissed him.

He must have been more tired than he thought, because instead of pushing him off, he pulled Casey closer. The next thing he knew, the Red Ranger was straddling his lap, and sucking on his lower lip. His fingers tangled in his hair, and it took all of RJ’s focus not to whimper. 

It was fantastic.

He was fantastic.

He was also his student.

Gripping Casey by the forearms, RJ forced them both to still. He closed his eyes, and waited fore the younger man to pull back.

“I…” he started, his voice small. “RJ, I’m so—”

“Space, Casey.” He didn’t want to look at him, look at the mess he’d made… but he did. He had to. 

Once the Red Ranger was back in his seat - and he had gotten his own heartbeat back to normal - RJ said:

“Listen, Casey… I know this is weird and confusing, but I promise you, it’ll get better.”

The devastation ebbed a bit… but only a little. “What?”

“I get it - I’ve been there, too. You spend an awful lot of time around a person, you learn from each other, you deal with the threat of world destruction together… it makes life very strange for a while. That’s normal, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“No…” Casey shook his head. “RJ, you don’t get it. I lo—”

“** You ** are dealing with a lot of heightened feelings as a result of what’s been happening these last few months,” he said. “And again, that’s perfectly human.”

“You’re not listening to me. RJ, I’m not confused or… or… whatever. I care about you.”

“And I care about you.” It shouldn’t have been so easy, to make himself sound so flippant. “But I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that feelings get heightened, especially after what we’ve all just been through.”

“So… you think I’m making this up?” Casey looked shocked - more shocked, in fact, than when he had thought RJ was rejecting him. _ It’s for the best, _ he told himself. _ Just push on, it’s for the best _.

“On the contrary. You believe this is real, and so, that is how it feels like to you right now. It doesn’t mean acting on them, though. And I could never take advantage of you in that way.”

Casey stared and stared and stared. Probably waiting to see if this was a joke. Eventually, he shook his head.

“You’re so full of shit,” he muttered, but when that didn’t get a response, he rose to his feet and went downstairs.

Leaving RJ to sit in the darkness.

*

Back to the present, RJ turned to Flit. “I appreciate your concern, but this is a personal matter.”

“Er… not to point out the obvious, but it doesn’t seem like it’s staying personal,” the other man said. “Casey is clearly upset, and the others are getting upset on his behalf. I know I’m not always the fastest one on the uptake, but it seems to me like your crew doesn’t really trust you anymore.”

How could he explain that it was precisely because of the team that he was doing what he did? Or that this was necessary?

RJ wasn’t a fool - he could tell this whole situation was causing his team to lose their cool. With the exception of Theo, every last one of the Rangers had come from a messy background. The idea that someone was now targeting vulnerable kids, kids with massive powers… well, it was natural that it would make them all feel protective. His job was to be the voice of reason, yet his treatment of Casey had clearly put him in the category of “people who don’t get it”… yet, what was the alternative? 

If he’d taken advantage of his student, all these weeks ago, and was now in a relationship with him, would the others just… follow his lead?

Or would they treat him with contempt and suspicion, like every other asshole who prayed on the vulnerable?

“They’ve got enough on their minds right now,” he said. “Trust me, my thing with Casey… it’ll just add fuel to the fire.”

“Mmm… that may be the case, but aren’t they Pai Zhua masters now? They ought to be able to handle things, especially since they are the designated Guardians.”

That was true… and also very much not the point. “Would you believe me if I said I genuinely didn’t want things to turn out this way?”

“Yes. But they did. So what will you do about it?”

RJ sighed. “You know… I really have no idea.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise.
> 
> This episode is brought to you by season's illnesses and caffeine.

_ Useless. Vain. Selfish. _

Jarrod lay in bed - wide awake, and yet, he might as well have been trapped in another one of Dai Shi’s nightmares. He couldn’t move. He could barely speak. And his mind, though aware of his surroundings, was focused on the fight and how he’d frozen before a single punch was landed.

It was bad enough to have his defeats in training… but now he also had irrefutable proof that he was useless, too. What a mess…

“Jarrod?”

He blinked at the ceiling. He didn’t want to talk to Lily. Didn’t want to talk to anybody.

“Hey.” The yellow ranger sat by his side. “RJ said you were okay, but… I wanted to check in on you too.”

“Sorry…”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry.” He forced himself to look at her. “I messed up. They got away.”

“No… I mean, yes, they did. But that was my fault, too.” She took his hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry for rushing in. I realize I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Is there anything you need?” Theo said from the door. “Anything we can do to help?”

Jarrod shook his head. “I… I think it’s better if I don’t join you for stake-outs anymore.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Theo said, coming in and sitting next to Lily. “Okay, so you didn’t have a great first outing. We got beaten by the Mantis the first time we fought it, too. You’ll get better.”

Jarrod closed his eyes. “You fought back at least.”

Lily sounded like she was about to say something… then Theo interrupted her.

“Hey, it’s okay. Why don’t we let you get back your bearings, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

“But—” Lily started, then gave up. “Yeah. I guess we will.”

There would be nothing to say, but Jarrod appreciated them leaving him in peace. This was difficult enough as it was…

Someone tapped his hand. He opened his eyes to find Casey standing by the bed, holding a cell phone in his hands. Theo and Lily gave him awkward smiles on their way out the room.

“I… what’s going on?” Jarrod whispered.

Casey shook his head and handed him the handset. “For you,” he said, cryptically, before leaving.

The display showed a blocked number. Pushing himself onto an elbow, Jarrod held the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

“Jarrod?” Camille’s voice floated through the airwaves. “Are you okay?”

*

She’d come back from a raid to find the kids sitting in the main room, dressed in their training gear, waiting for her.

“Really? You’re not even going to let me catch my breath?” she asked. But she set aside her sai and organised the kids into training groups. Truth was, the raid had been unsuccessful. She needed something - anything - to distract herself. 

Halfway through the training session, however, Tommy had taken over, telling her there was a request waiting for her upstairs.

“Camille?” 

She closed her eyes, smiling with relief. Despite the fear and misery of the last two months, it was so good to hear his voice. “Yes, it’s me.”

He was silent for a long time. So long, in fact, that she checked to see if the connection had cut off. “I’m still here,” she whispered. 

“So am I.” He coughed. “I… I thought you weren’t allowed to contact me.”

Technically, she hadn’t. RJ had called Master Finn, who had called Tommy. “I think the Masters decided to make an exception,” she said, exhaustion catching up and forcing her to sit down. “They said you had a bad day.”

“It sounds like you did, too.” 

She couldn’t see him, but she could imagine the look on his face. She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned against the windowsill. “Let’s just say it was a rough time all around.”

“Hm…” Noises in the background. Soft footfalls. The click of a door closing. “I don’t know why they called you.”

“I do.” She shifted a bit. “They think I’m the only one who can get to you.”

“But?”

“But that’s not the case. You can get to you. I’m just a useful conduit.”

“You give yourself too little credit.” It sounded like he’d sat down again. She wondered what the view from his windows were like. “I froze in the middle of a fight today, Camille.”

She’d heard as much from Tommy. 

“That was bound to happen one day,” she said.

“Was failing horribly also bound to happen?” he whispered. “I was meant to help, and instead—”

“And instead, you discover you are still human. Yeah… can’t imagine how you’d recover from that failure.”

Pause. “Is this your idea of a pep talk?”

“Would you rather I told you to scrub the floor of Jungle Karma with a toothbruth?”

“I never asked you to do that.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Dai Shi let you use a proper brush.”

“True.”

“You’re really trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

“That depends. Is it working?”

Jarrod sighed. Camille let a small smile. “I feel like I would have been better off leaving all of this. I’m trying to go back to what I never was and it’s… it’s…”

“Difficult?”

“I was going to say impossible.”

Camille stood up and walked across the room to where her backpack lay - still, only half unpacked. She was about to tell him off for not trying hard enough, but then, what could she say? She was still acting as if this was only a temporary situation and she was going to leave any day, too.

“On the day the Rangers defeated Dai Shi, you told me you didn’t want to be an insecure bully again,” she said. “If that’s the case, then you’re not trying to return to anything - you’re becoming someone new.”

“Isn’t that all semantics?”

“Not really.” She took her backpack and emptied it on the bed, sorting through the various items inside. “If you were trying to erase all the months which you spent as Dai Shi, to become who you used to be, I would tell you that was impossible. But if the goal is to have a life beyond what happened, then I hate to tell you, there’s no “better off” in your case.”

“Oh? There isn’t?” Curiosity laced through his voice.

“Not even a little. You will never not be the guy who was possessed by Dai Shi--” as she would never not be Dai Shi’s right-hand monster, “—you would carry that with you, regardless of whether your goal was to become a Pai Zhua master, or a florist. You might as well deal with that alongside people who at least get it.”

Jarrod was quiet for a long time. “Is that where you are?” he asked, eventually. “With people who… get it?”

She looked out of her window. She could see Elsa and Anton Mercer walking through the garden, speaking in low voices. Anton was agitated, while Elsa was trying to placate him. “More or less,” Camille said, looking away. It felt like she was intruding on a private moment.

Jarrod’s next question caught her off-guard, though. “Are you happy?”

She’d never thought about that before. “I… feel purposeful.” That was like being happy, wasn’t it? “It’s a change after ten thousand deals of evil, but it feels… good. Pun not intended.”

“Do you think you’ll return one day?” he asked.

She stopped rifling through the luggage, and straightened up. “Of course,” she said. Unless… “So long as you want me to.”

Jarrod’s response was instantaneous. “If I knew where you were, and if I was wanted, I’d be with you already, Camille.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” her voice shook a little as she spoke. “You are always _ wanted _.” At least as far as she was concerned, which was what mattered in the end of the day. 

He exhaled, and she could feel his relief over the line. Just then, Tommy knocked on her door, gesturing toward the outside. “We’re running out of time,” she whispered. “Do me a favor, Jarrod - try not to let perfectionism get the better of you.”

“Keep your promise to me, and I won’t have to.”

She smiled. “We’ll have to renew that at some point.”

He chuckled, a sound full of so much promise she felt her heart lift. “Oh, trust me - we’re renewing that and then some.” Then his tone changed, “Be safe, Camille.”

The connection cut off before she could reply, but her answer was the same as it always had been. _ You too, human. You too. _

*

Casey’s move to the college dorms was a blur. One day his things were still in Jungle Karma, the next RJ and Lily were helping haul them up three flights of stairs, past a Fire Exit sign with spray paint on them, and into a double room with a Bob Marley poster on the door.

“Well…” Casey said, once the boxes (all three of them) were unloaded and unpacked. “Home sweet home.”

His roommate had been in and out in seconds, barely acknowledging either him or his friends. If this was what college life was like, RJ decided, then there would be no issue for the Tiger Master to slip in and out unnoticed. On the other hand, that did raise the question why in the hell did Casey insist to do things in this way, but that was a can of worms he had promised not to open.

“If you need anything…” Lily started, then shrugged. “Well… we can make pizza deliveries for sure.”

“Indeed,” RJ said. “I took the liberty of dropping off a few menus in the kitchen. I expect a steady stream of orders, so if you need backup, there should be at least one of us en route to here at all times.”

Casey shook his head. “Thanks… I guess.”

He sat on his bed.

“I… guess we should go,” Lily said, when neither RJ nor Casey made a move to dismiss the other.

RJ smiled. “Yes. Indeed. Have fun, Casey?”

“Oh, planning to.” The Tiger Master’s smile was - and it really was the best way to describe it - positively predatory. It took all of RJ’s energy not to turn green, as he followed Lily outside.

_ So this is the new stakeout location _ RJ pondered, counting, as he went, the number of flyers advertising socials, clubs, and parties in the dorm alone. _ I’d be surprised if Casey does even a little bit of surveillance while here. _

“Don’t do it,” Lily said, as they climbed inside the delivery vehicle.

“Do what?”

“Make snide remarks to him when he updates us tonight,” she revved the engine and backed out of the parking spot. Her smile did not match her tone in any way, shape or form. “You may not believe this, RJ, but Casey puts a lot of stock in your opinion. Being mean about his choices will only drive him further away.”

“I wasn’t being mean in the first place.” Since when was giving an honest opinion not considered good practice.

“You made it extra hard for him to talk to you these last few weeks. And it wasn’t appreciated.” She threw him a dirty look.

RJ pursed his lips. Unwilling to discuss that aspect of his private life with her, he asked: “Any luck on figuring out who our serpentine friend was?”

“Nope, not a clue.”

“Are you sure you don’t know him from anywhere?”

“If I did, I would have told you by now. Don’t you think I want this solved as much as anybody else?”

“There is no doubt in my mind. I’m just surprised he fixated on you more than anybody else.” RJ pondered this for a moment. “You were seriously upset about this from the get-go, too. Even more so than Flit. Are you sure you haven’t been hit by another poisonous quail or something?”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake!” she growled. “Anybody would be disturbed by this, RJ!”

“Yes, but you are more disturbed than anybody. Could it be someone from your past? Someone you don’t remember?”

She turned into a side-street, abruptly, pulled up, and flicked the car’s emergency lights on. “My past, RJ, is the same as that of any other Pai Zhua student,” she said, in a low voice. “Most of it happened before I could even form proper memories, and I’m glad, because I don’t want to remember. Having said that, I’m pretty sure a big snake monster would make an impression, and so I’m confident in saying, I don’t know this guy!”

“You may not know him now,” RJ said, coolly. “But that doesn’t mean they could not be a person from your past in a different form. The other ranger team sent information about creatures who can alter the DNA of living beings - that opens up the potential to a lot of misery.”

Lily looked like she might cry. 

“However,” he went on, “that doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to remember any of it. If you can’t recognize him, it’s fine.”

“Is it? They’re out there, and they are taking advantage—”

“The enemies would always be out there,” RJ reached out and touched her hand, gently. “We will always struggle to fight back until we gather enough information. We don’t need to destroy ourselves in the process, though.”

Her lower lip wobbled, then she leaned into RJ, breaking down into sobs. 

He held her until the misery subsided, then he gently nudged her to change seats. Once she was calm again, he switched off the emergency lights and pulled out into the street again.

“Lily…” he said, after a while. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” She sniffed. “You’re not my parent. You weren’t responsible for what happened.”

“I’m sorry because I’m making life difficult for the team,” he said. “I know it doesn’t make sense… but I promise you, it is for the best.”

“You say that a lot. It doesn’t seem like the best thing for Casey.”

RJ sighed. Casey clearly wasn’t happy now, but with all these parties he was about to attend, surely he would be over his feelings soon enough. How could he explain that to Lily? She would no doubt call him a condescending prick.

“This is between Casey and myself,” he said, adding quickly, “I know it doesn’t seem that way, but you need us to sort it out by ourselves.”

“Right… because all the snide remarks make for a fantastic working environment.” 

RJ opened his mouth, then closed it. What could he say? “You’re right,” he sighed. “I… I’ll make it up to him. I’m sorry.”

“You know what they say,” she muttered, as they finally pulled up in front of Jungle Karma. “Don’t be sorry. Be better.”

RJ, who was reaching for the breaks, stopped dead in his tracks. Lily gave him a funny look as he stared off into the distance. “RJ?”

“I have an idea,” he said. “If you want, go back to the building. I need to go to Pai Zhua.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise. This is a fan work, just for fun...
> 
> ...And by fun I mean reckless sadism.

As it turned out, both Jarrod and Dom wanted to go to Pai Zhua with RJ, which delayed the trip until after the parlor closed. In the bigger scheme of things, it probably didn’t matter, but the Wolf master, already on edge, was miserable company for the rest of the afternoon, until everyone was good and ready to head into the jungle.

“Are you going to tell us your idea?” Dom asked, as they tore through the roads, driving toward the academy. “Or are you making us figure it out?”

“I was stupid,” RJ said. “That’s what my idea was.”

“Okay…” Dom muttered, while Jarrod kept his mouth politely shut. “But more specifically?”

“Pai Zhua keeps records of all students that come in,” RJ said. “Medical history, known family, whether they ever encountered a monster before coming to the order, whether they have connections to someone plugged into the Morphing grid… If this Snake-monster knows Lily or anybody else among the Guardians, there might be a mention of it somewhere.”

“That’s a pretty massive leap,” Dom muttered.

“You have a better idea?”

The problem was, they didn’t. Neither of them. 

Which was how they ended up in the Pai Zhua library - a surprisingly modern space - leafing through boxes and boxes of folders. RJ even found Dominic and Jarrod’s records. They sat at the bottom of the pile like traps.

“Are you sure we should be… looking through these?” Jarrod asked, carefully thumbing through the topmost file.

“I asked permission while you two were cleaning up earlier,” RJ said, taking Casey’s file and opening it. “They weren’t thrilled but… if it saved them from reliving painful memories, they decided it was preferable.”

Meaning, things were about to get a whole lot more awkward in the parlor. Jarrod eyed his own file wearily. “Are we allowed to take these out? It… seems only fair that they see ours.”

“They will do. When the time is right.” RJ sighed. “When I told them about this, though, they said they didn’t want to yet.”

“That seems…” Jarrod hesitated.

“…disproportionate somehow,” Dom finished.

RJ shrugged. “If you don’t want to read,” he said, “you can wait outside.”

Dominic and Jarrod exchanged glances over the table. 

On the one hand, there could be a clue in the files about the identity of these kidnappers. On the other… on the other, they were infringing on their privacy, possibly in ways that would change the whole team dynamic. 

Jarrod set down Lily’s file. “I’m going to wait outside. I’m not okay with this.”

RJ just nodded. Dom looked like he might follow him out, then he shook his head. “I’ll stay here. Lily can kill me later.”

Jarrod shook his head. “I’ll wait outside. I… need to speak to Master Mao anyway.”

*

_ The night after Jarrod had rescued her life, Dai Shi had decided to reward him. Or rather, he’d decided to give him what the dragon considered a reward._

_“You want Camille so badly?” he’d snarled, making Jarrod shiver. “Then you can have her.”_

_It had taken Jarrod shamefully long to realize what he’d meant. By that time, his body had been halfway through the temple, heading straight to Camille’s quarters._

_“That’s not what I want,” he’d said, but it was impossible. How could he reason with something that possessed him so completely? _

_“Humans,” even as a voice inside his head, Dai Shi had sounded disgusted. “Deep down, you are all animals. Don’t worry - she’ll let you do what you like to her.”_

_“She doesn’t want—”_

_“She’s devoted to me. She’ll do as I say!”_

_Jarrod had never felt sicker than he had in that moment. _

_Then, after the dragon had left them alone for the night, Camille had offered him a way out. “I’ll just make you sick,” she’d said. “He won’t punish you.”_

_But he would punish her. Jarrod knew it. Camille knew it, too, and yet she’d prepared a potion as if it had been any other night. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that he’d just come for medicine. _

_“Why are you doing this?” he’d whispered. “Why do you keep trying to save me?”_

_Camille’s hands had stilled. Then, she’d turned and faced him, her face open and honest. “Because I want you to live.” _

*

Jarrod stepped out and found Master Mao’s ghost sitting in the courtyard. A group of cubs was playing together in the faraway corner - quietly, and respectfully, but playing nonetheless.

This is what he’d tried to destroy.

This, and so much more.

“Trying to worry yourself into a stupor, Jarrod?” Master Mao asked. “If so, you are doing a good job.”

“I’m sorry,” the man said, coming closer. Mao patted the stone next to him. Jarrod sat down gingerly. “I just… find it hard to focus.”

“So I heard.” He folded his arms inside his sleeves. “Is there anything in particular that concerns you? Or is it just general anxiety?”

“Can’t it be both?” 

“Usually there is a bigger reason for why we are afraid,” Master Mao said. “But yes - I suppose it could be any one little thing that tips us over the edge.”

He felt like he’d fallen a long time ago. 

“I keep thinking how alike we are… myself and the others,” he said. “We come from similar families, similar backgrounds, have similar powers… even without reading their files, I know that. And yet—”

“And yet their fates turned out different from yours,” Master Mao said. “And you are wondering why that is?”

“I guess I am.” Jarrod looked out at the cubs playing, feeling strangely bereft. “Camille, too. Even if her story started thousands of years ago, it was the same as ours, more or less. Except she wasn’t so lucky as to be part of Pai Zhua.”

Master Mao nodded. “No. She was twice unlucky - to be born into an evil order, and then to meet Dai Shi. Still--” he added “—somehow, she was able to turn that around for herself. Do you not find that encouraging?”

“I don’t know.” Jarrod looked down. “I want to believe we can both redeem ourselves one day. I want it for her sake more than I do even for mine. But—”

“Yes?”

“I cannot forgive myself,” he finished. “I keep thinking, here are a whole bunch of people who had the same circumstances as me, and yet they did not fail in their missions. They were able to withstand evil. How can anybody forgive me when I cannot see a single redeeming quality for myself?”

Master Mao was silent for such a long time, Jarrod wondered if he had dissipated. But when he turned, he found the ghost smiling at him.

“That’s one way of looking at things,” he said. “But have you ever considered that, perhaps, we are not as infallible as we wish we were, too?”

Jarrod stared at him, confused.

“You say that you were the only one to succumb to darkness, out of everyone here,” Master Mao said. “Yet, it is the Masters who seek out the young people who join us; it is the Masters that invite and dismiss students at the Pai Zhua academy. You may have been the one to unleash Dai Shi, but from another perspective, it can be said that we ourselves created an environment that was bound to blow up in our faces one day.”

Jarrod’s mouth hung open. “But Master… I killed you.”

“No, Dai Shi killed me. You were a frightened boy, and instead of checking your worst impulses, we let them fester until the last possible moment.” Master Mao bowed his head. “We failed you, as much as anybody else. And I, for one, am sorry.”

This was not at all what he was expecting. “This isn’t fair. I should be begging for your forgiveness. I—”

“You are responsible for your own actions,” Master Mao said. “But I would be remiss if I didn’t point out our own part in this tragedy. Don’t dwell so much on why you were imperfect, Jarrod. Focus instead on how you can be better for the future.”

“I… I don’t know how to be better,” Jarrod admitted. “I feel so useless… so completely weak.”

“You were one of our strongest fighters. Your power did not come from Dai Shi, and the Black Lion spirit didn’t serve him - he served you.” Master Mao stood up and smiled. “Whatever you may have been led to think, you are powerful in your own right.”

Jarrod opened his mouth to object, but the old master dissipated before he could formulate a coherent response. 

He sank back in the seat, pondering how strange his life had become at this point. He longed to help, yet his skills and powers seemed to have failed him. He was so lonely, and yet the person he wanted the most could not be with him. He wanted to be strong for the world, and yet his own worst enemy was his own sense of inferiority.

How could he even begin to fix all of this?

He watched as one of the children in the courtyard went away from the group, stood in a quiet corner, and then began a kata. It was slow and a little clumsy, and yet…

…yet, it was strangely comforting. Familiar.

Jarrod’s eyes narrowed.

The child was, in fact, doing a chameleon technique. 

It wasn’t entirely strange, and yet, chameleon was not something the cubs learned in a beginner’s class. Certainly not, as this one did, with the flourishes he was trying to put in. 

The child noticed him watching, stopped… then got in position and started over again. More slowly. More carefully. As if he’d learned recently and wanted to solidify the technique in his own mind. 

Jarrod felt his soul lift, just a little bit. 

*

Going through the records accomplished nothing except depressing RJ and Dominic further. They acknowledged it had been a long shot, but still - as they climbed into the car and drove back, the mood of defeat was stronger than ever.

“I suppose not all is lost,” RJ muttered. “If Lily had met him as a monster, he would have been recorded. So it could have been a human back then.”

Jarrod leaned in, as far as the seatbelt would allow. “I’ve been wondering about that—” he said “—how are monsters made?”

“Don’t you know?” Dom asked.

“Well, that’s the thing - when I was Dai Shi, the monsters were just upgraded Rin Shi. Camille would steal ingredients or magical items to enhance them, but they were never human to begin with.” Jarrod frowned further. “They were capable of great destruction, sure, but they were not exactly free thinkers. What did the other Rangers encounter?”

RJ frowned. 

“I don’t think they were made in any other special way…” he said. “I have to ask.”

“It might be worth also checking with them whether their monsters could lie,” Jarrod went on. “The Rin Shi could think for themselves, and they did, on occasion, come up with plans to overthrow Dai Shi and take over the whole operation for themselves. The monster could have been trying to mess with our heads when it pretended to know Lily.”

“Maybe,” RJ said. “But if that were the case, why would Lily be this disturbed by the notion?”

“She could have her own reasons.” Jarrod shrugged. “I’m just saying, maybe we approached this from the wrong angle.”

Dom nodded, slowly. “We can pull images of the beast from the command center monitors. If it’s made up of any rare species, we’ll be one step closer to him.”

“Seems like as much of a stretch as looking through the records.” RJ sighed. “But we don’t have much of a choice. Let’s hope that lead is at least easier to follow.”

*

Camille was exhausted.

No. That wasn’t the right word.

Destroyed. Obliterated. Completely and utterly done.

Crawling back to her bed after yet another unsuccessful raid, all she could think of was how every failure made life worse for the prisoners. They had another team helping them now, but they’d lost the element of surprise, and the kidnappers - unlike them - did not care about the welfare of the humans they captured.

She groaned into her pillow. If she had a clear target, that would be one thing. Even one tiny clue would have given her something to do - something other than stalking or fighting. But no - the warehouses had been as sterile and impersonal as they could get. They had the bare necessities for the prisoners and nothing else.

“Are you beating yourself up again?” Elsa asked from the door.

“Too tired for that.” 

The other woman came in and pulled up a chair. “Would it cheer you up if I said Tommy cracked the hard drive he found in that other raid?”

Camille raised her head. “He did?”

“No.” Elsa shook her head. “But he says the others are exploring different avenues as well. He thinks that between all of us, someone will have a breakthrough sooner.”

“If only I was technically minded,” she muttered, pushing herself into a sitting position. “All I know is to steal things and crack heads.”

“We might still need you to do that. The snake monster your friends saw at Ocean Bluff was made up of several rare species. If they’re using a gene splicer similar to that which Anton made, we could trace them.” 

“Really? The one monster that showed up was also one that could be traced?” Camille frowned. “Why does that sound like a wild goose chase?”

“We’ve got to take what we can get.” Pause. “How’s your heart?”

“My heart?”

“After that phone call with your boy the other night? I was wondering if maybe it helped you somewhat.”

“I was more focused on helping him, to be honest.” Although it had been nice to hear his voice again. And, after centuries of being ignored, hearing that someone actually wanted to see her, was looking forward to seeing her… well, it made her hope like nothing else did.

Camille swallowed. “Elsa… do you ever feel like this is all a dream?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” she paused “…do you ever wonder if this second chance is all a mistake? That they will wake up one day and remember who you were before?”

“I don’t think they ever forgot who we were,” Elsa said. “But they choose to give us a second chance, and I have to believe that means something. I have to make it count.”

“As do I. But—” Camille pursed her lips “—I wonder if I can ever make up for any of it.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Elsa said, reaching out and touched her hand. 

“Am I though? After…”

“After being raised as cannon fodder for monsters, and treated as disposable by a heartless autocrat, you did what you could to protect yourself and survive.” Elsa gave her a firm look. “I was a warden in a prison before I was a principle. I have seen what happens when a child is forced to grow up early and it is not pretty.”

Camille pulled her hand away. “I had ten thousand years to make myself free. I could have gotten myself some therapy, broken the curse, and found a life long before Dai Shi got free from Pai Zhua.”

“If you got away from the temple before your Master freed you, what would you have done? Realistically speaking, I mean.” 

She would have freed him. Or attempted to, anyway. Knowing what she knew about the Order of the Claw, it wouldn’t have been that much of a stretch. 

“Would you have done it?” Elsa pressed. “Gotten a life, I mean?”

“No.” Camille sighed. “I suppose not.”

“Would you have thought yourself worthy of having your own life? Before someone else showed you that this was possible?”

Again… that was a no.

Why did all these people have to be right all the time, though?

“I wish…” she started, then stopped. “I wish I was stronger. I wish I had a sense of self that was not tied with Dai Shi. I wish I broke free on my own accord, instead of waiting until the last possible moment. I wish I was… I wish I was someone good.”

She stopped abruptly, feeling as if someone had hit her. The emotion kept rising and rising, and all she wanted was to cry. Where was that coming from even?

“What does that mean, to be good? To have no flaws? To live like a saint, without a bad thought ever crossing your mind? To take abuse and to still come out unscathed?” Elsa took her hand again. “You think that because other people have recovered from similar situations or worse, that makes you rotten to the core. But you _ are _ good, Camille. You fought for what you thought was right, and you are still doing so, even if it is hard. You tried to help Jarrod before you knew where the tide would turn. You stood up to your Master when it counted. Don’t think that doesn’t matter.”

She bowed her head and curled in on herself. “I want to be alone now.”

“Camille…”

“Please! I just want to be left alone.”

Elsa sighed. “Okay. But this conversation isn’t over, do you hear me?”

As if she could possibly forget.

Camille waited until the door was closed, and then buried her face in her pillow and let out a heartfelt scream. 

She wanted to believe Elsa. So badly. But she knew what she had done. She knew what she had to atone for. She would never be able to repay her debt, not in a million years. And when Jarrod realized that, he would want nothing to do with her. 

This had gone on for long enough. She had to take matters into her own hands, or else.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise.

Sitting in the dojo, RJ perused the data his friend had forwarded from the local police departments. There was plenty to keep him occupied - Rin Shi sightings, concerned parents, petty vandalism. But no reports of robbery in veterinary clinics or pet stores, which for once would have been helpful. 

“What a mess…” he muttered.

Jarrod, who was sweeping the floor again, paused and turned to him. “No joy?”

“None whatsoever.” RJ leaned back in his chair. “Damn it. Times like these, I feel like our whole approach to life has been flawed.”

“How so?”

Good question. He was an unconventional Master, sure… but RJ had never been particularly rebellious as far as the Pai Zhua fundamentals went. That was, until now.

“We are always waiting,” he said, kicking his legs out and standing up. Pacing up and down the training mat, he muttered, more to himself than to Jarrod, “Our strategy has always been reactive; stay prepared, stay alert; but when we finally meet an enemy that prefers to bide their time, and we’re screwed.”

“They’ll make a mistake eventually,” Jarrod said.

“Yes, but when will that be?” RJ threw his hands in the air. Then he sighed. “Ignore me. I guess I’m just a bit—”

“Overwrought?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of “pissed” but… sure.”

Jarrod leaned against the broom, looking pensive. “It’s a shame that Casey isn’t here,” he said. 

RJ stopped dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?”

“He usually seems to calm you down when you get into a mood.”

“He… does… too.” RJ frowned. “Wait, what are you saying?”

Jarrod shrugged. “Usually, you’re the one advising caution and patience. Yet, ever since Casey moved into his dorm, you’ve been getting antsier and antsier, chasing after leads on this monster.”

RJ was tempted to deny it, but what would that lead to? Crossing his arms and asking “so what?” like a three year old?

“I’d like this nightmare to be over as fast as possible,” he said. “I should think we all do.”

“Yeah. And in the meantime, you are pissing off Theo and Lily.” The younger man went back to sweeping the floor. “Sorry. Forget I said anything.”

The Wolf Master started to say something - probably a cutting remark, or a reminder for Jarrod to mind his own business - when he gave up. Why bother denying the truth? He would just be burying his head in the sand further.

Honestly, he missed Casey far more than he ought to. He’d hoped that the distance would do them both some good - cool off the awkwardness and the urgency and restore a sense of equilibrium. Unfortunately, what _ had _ happened was that Casey’s absence was even more potent than his presence. He kept seeing things he wanted to share with him; kept hearing music or reading articles that he wanted to show him. There were times during the day when RJ would have whole conversations in his head - not with Casey, mind, but with his memory of him.

It was pathetic. He was acting like some foolish geezer, pining after a young one. 

A young one, who was also a Guardian, a Power Ranger, a Master of his own right, and - as of last week - no longer his employee. 

The more he tried to reinforce his defenses, the more RJ found them to be flimsy and ill-founded, the more irritated he got.

“Why—” he said “—must you of all people be right?”

Jarrod shrugged again. At this rate, he would be the smuggest cub to ever re-enter Pai Zhua academy, and that was a high bar to clear. 

“I know regret when I see it,” he said. 

Yes, there was that too.

“There isn’t much to be done about it now,” RJ said. “We have other things on our plates…”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t go to him for comfort.”

RJ frowned. “We never did talk about what happened in Dai Shi’s palace,” he said, carefully picking his words. 

“I didn’t realize there was anything left to talk about.”

Oh, he was not going to enjoy broaching this topic. For a second, RJ debated whether he should even bring it up. But despite everything else, he was still the mentor of this team, and a mentor had to handle the hard conversations head on. “How did you and Camille even develop a rapport? I can’t imagine it happened overnight.”

“I told you, and I told Master Mao - she helped me sleep.”

“She drugged you.”

Jarrod paused and gave him a look. “You lost control of your spirit twice,” he said. “Would you have liked it if that happened every night? Would you have wanted to be a prisoner of your own body?”

RJ raised his hands. “Alright, so she was helping you,” he said. “What else?”

“She tried to keep me safe - even when the Overlords and Dai Shi didn’t. She intervened whenever they were pushing me to the breaking point, sometimes at the risk for her own safety.”

“You don’t think she did it to serve her master? Dai Shi wouldn’t have lasted long without a Vessel.”

“There were plenty of people at Pai Zhua who were left unsupervised and unprotected at that time,” Jarrod said. “Dai Shi could have sent his army there and captured Vessels aplenty.”

RJ forced himself not to wince. Yes… that had been a major oversight of theirs. Even if he himself didn’t think Dai Shi would have mounted a full on offense on the academy, there were ways in which he could have lured unsuspecting cubs out. Especially when one of his fighters was also a mistress of disguise.

“You are determined to make this difficult, huh?” he muttered.

“I’m just telling you how it was,” Jarrod said. “Dai Shi didn’t bother to shield his thoughts from me. I knew I was disposable. It was just another way to keep me in line.”

“Camille could have tried to help you escape sooner.”

Jarrod didn’t react to that provocation, either. Instead, he finished sweeping up and set the broom aside. “Tell me something,” he said, finally, “when you realized you were losing control of the wolf spirit, was your first reaction to seek help?”

No. His first reaction had been to run, like a coward. RJ pursed his lips. “And how is that relevant?”

“I’m just wondering how you might help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

He’d clearly given this way too much thought. RJ felt like a shit. 

“I’m not trying to make you feel bad, you know,” he said at length. “It’s just that…”

“It’s just that you want to test my loyalty, and find out just how fucked up I am from being possessed by a demon.” Jarrod crossed his arms. “Yeah. I know.”

“Loyalty isn’t the point here, boyo. How do you even know she returns your devotion?”

Another shrug. It was like talking to a teenager all over again.

“Did something happen between you?”

“Lots of things happened.”

“Besides what Casey witnessed.”

Jarrod seemed to tense up. “I don’t want to discuss this.” 

“Because it’s too much?”

“Because you’ll just be a dick about it.”

RJ started to protest, when the wolf spirit - usually a lazy thing - reached out from within him and gave him a proverbial kick up the butt.

What had Jarrod seen of him, since he’d arrived? Some affection for Casey, perhaps, but mostly he’d been a hardass about the rules, argued over everything, and made snide comments about affection and loyalty. Of course he’d be weary of telling him about this. Who wouldn’t?

“I’m sorry,” RJ said, sitting down. “I haven’t been the kindest to you, or to Camille. You’re right not to want to talk about this.”

“It’s just…” Jarrod sighed. “The other overlords messed with my head. Dai Shi messed with my body. The Phantom Beasts messed with my spirit. Camille was the only one who tried to protect me.”

And he and the others had been convincing him that it wasn’t real. 

RJ was wondering if this was how pond scum felt.

“I’m here to listen,” he said. “If you want me to.”

Jarrod pondered this for the longest time. Then he pulled up a chair and sat down. “Dai Shi showed me all his thoughts, but I tried to keep mine hidden. He didn’t care much about that, so he never tried to get over my defenses. But when I thought Camille was in danger, I wasn’t only able to take over - I was able to keep him out until she was safe. Dai Shi… didn’t like that.”

RJ nodded, although he felt a chill running down his spine as he wondered where that story was about to go.

“That night, once the generals were gone, he put me in so much pain, I thought I might die. I was hoping for it, to be honest. But then he said that, since I’d been such a good Vessel, I deserve a reward.” Jarrod swallowed. “He took me to Camille’s room, left my body, and then told her that she would let me do whatever I wanted to her body.”

He fell paused, lost in a memory.

“Then what happened?” RJ asked, once the silence became unbearable.

“Then he just left us.” Jarrod shrugged. “Camille tended to my wounds, made sure I wasn’t bleeding from the inside out, and asked me if I preferred to take a sleeping draught, or something that would make me vomit until morning.”

“She was willing to risk violating a direct order? Wasn’t she afraid of what Dai Shi might do?”

“I don’t know.” Jarrod shrugged. “I think… I think it was more of a test of loyalty to him. To see whether his assumptions about us were correct, or if there was something worse afoot. If we went through with his orders, we were just a pair of fools that he could control. But if we defied him—”

“—if you defied him, then that would be all the justification he’d need to destroy you.” RJ frowned. “Why would she take that risk?”

“She said she’d seen Casey in the forest that day. She thought he’d witnessed me saving her.”

And so she’d put her hopes in the Rangers. That they would try to mount a rescue operation, saving Jarrod before it was too late. RJ was at once shocked at how much trust Camille had put into them, and in awe at what a risk Casey had truly been taking that day. 

“Camille was alive and well when you guys got rescued,” he mused out loud. “Casey must have arrived just in time.”

Jarrod looked away. RJ felt a suspicion creeping up his spine. “What?”

“We… didn’t go ahead with the potion plan,” the younger man said. The tips of his ears were turning bright red.

RJ gaped. “You did what Dai Shi wanted?”

“No. We did what _ we _ wanted.” 

*

RJ didn’t think there was a difference, but that didn’t matter. Jarrod had been there, and he had known, what he and Camille had had was not in the least what the dragon had demanded. 

_ “You will fight back, won’t you?” She pressed her face against his chest, tangling her fingers with his. “Please. Promise me you will fight.”_

_“If I don’t,” he said, “then he will destroy humanity. He will destroy you.” He picked up her hand and kissed it. “I told you. I’ll never let that happen.”_

_She closed her eyes and sighed. “Thank you. Don’t forget that.”_

_“I need you to promise me something in return, though.”_

_He hauled her on top of him, staring into her face. _

_“W… what’s that?” she asked._

_“Promise me,” he said, “whatever happens, promise me that you will live.”_

_“I—” This wasn’t something she could guarantee, and he knew it. Just like he couldn’t guarantee that, despite his best efforts, the Dark Master wouldn’t win in the end. But if that was enough to keep them going… if it was enough to keep them alive… “I will live as long as you do,” she said. “But make no mistake, Jarrod - if you throw yourself deliberately in harm’s way, all bets are off. Do you hear me? Your life is not yours to forfeit.”_

_Caressing her cheek, he whispered, “deal,” before pulling her in for another demanding kiss. His hands roamed her body with a new sort of possessiveness, shaping her to him, tracing the edges of her wounds but also marking her as his. _

_Breaking the kiss, Camille had risen up, straddling him. “Have you had enough yet?” she’d asked, knowing full well that he wasn’t done in the least. Even in a million years, he would still want her._

_“Take what you want,” he’d said, squeezing her hand. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m yours.” _

*

Sometimes, talking about something just didn’t give it justice.

RJ knew that, and yet, watching the emotions playing on Jarrod’s face - his fondness, his admiration, his gratitude, his _ love _ \- he couldn’t help but feel a little bit embarrassed at having asked him about it. Would he be comfortable sharing all of his feelings for Casey in such a way? No, of course not.

Still. He’d opened Pandora’s box. It was his job to close it.

“How was that different?”

Jarrod sighed. “In the compound, everything was regimented. What I ate, how long I trained, even the moment I was allowed to sleep. I gained some control later on, but it was hard earned and harder to keep. That night was mine and Camille’s. For the first time in ages, it felt like we actually had a choice. Maybe the option weren’t great but…”

“But you still appreciated having them,” RJ finished for him.

Jarrod shrugged. “I know you don’t believe me.”

It was the Wolf Master’s turn to be silent. “You know—” he said, at length “—I’ve never been in your shoes. But I do know a thing or two about what it feels like to face your own mortality.”

“RJ—”

“No, let me finish.” He braced both his legs against the floor, preparing himself mentally for what he was about to admit. “Dai Shi was never going to let you live through the Beast War, had his plan been brought to fruition. Stalling would have only worked for so long. You both knew that, right?”

The younger man looked down. “I had certainly outlived my usefulness,” he said. “Camille… I think he kept her alive because he saw her as a possession, to be disposed of only when he saw fit.”

“Of course he did.” RJ didn’t bother being nice about it. “He saw you as tools. Not as living beings with feelings or hopes or dreams. Killing you at his will was his ultimate show of dominance.”

“But he didn’t. We didn’t let him.”

“No. Because you were both more than what he made you to be,” RJ said, smiling. And when they had been put into an awful situation together, they’d eschewed violence or coercion and they had chosen tenderness instead. “I’m sorry, Jarrod. I should have just asked you.”

“You had no way of knowing,” he said. After a beat, he added, “I was serious, earlier on. There’s nothing wrong with seeking comfort. Maybe, if I’d spoken to Camille sooner, I would have found the strength to fight off Dai Shi before he did so much damage.”

“That’s a lot of maybes, Jarrod.”

“If you say so.” He stood up. “But I let my pride get the better of me for way too long. I think I know what I’m talking about.”

RJ shook his head. “Why—” he muttered “—out of all people, must you be right?”

*

Miles away, Casey watched the woods from his dorm window, a mixture of exhaustion and irritation churning through him. The tiger spirit wanted to go out and hunt. In all honesty, so did he. The only reason he was even indoors was because he was trying to demonstrate restraint, and look how well that was turning out/

_ Why bother? _ he thought. _ It’s not like anybody will care. _

The only person whose good opinion he’d coveted was not there. And he had shown, time and again, that he didn’t care for preserving Casey’s good opinion of him.

So… what did it matter?

Slipping past his roommates was criminally easy. Even without his training, he probably would have been able to lose them without putting in much effort. The simplicity of it all made him remember a different time - a time when he wasn’t Pai Zhua yet, and getting in and out of places quickly was a necessity, not a luxury. 

The old feelings - fear, hatred, nervous energy - rose up as always, but Casey shoved them aside. He had more important things to do. Vital things. His broken heart was… not a big deal. Not really.

Outside, the night beckoned. Casey forced himself to walk slowly, until at least he was under the trees and out of sight of the cameras of the college. Only when he was clear did he let the Tiger Spirit loose, and ran deeper into the forest.

_ This now… this was what he could live for. _

The feeling of freedom, of being totally and completely untethered, was what Casey had always wanted. A world without scrutiny, without crushing responsibility, a world where he could just _ be _ and nobody could tell him off. He didn’t have to please anybody but himself, and no amount of bullshit - RJ’s, or anybody else’s - could throw him off his stride.

_ Even when that isn’t totally the case? _

He slowed down. All around him, the air was filled with the sounds of the forest. Something had put the tiger spirit on alert. Something… something…

_ What am I doing out here? _

He wasn’t in a good place to do a stakeout. Sure, he could respond to danger but he was also announcing his presence loud and clear to anybody who cared to follow him.

And there was somebody following him.

Several somebodies.

“Took you long enough?” a low voice hissed. Casey whirled around and caught sight of the snake monster, but before he could morph, a sweet scent filled the air, making him light headed. 

“Jungle Fury—” he stared, as the world blurred.

The last thing he saw was the monster, laughing as it went to him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Power Rangers, Jungle Fury or otherwise.

“What do you mean, nobody worried?”

They all winced, as RJ’s voice echoed from the dojo. They tried to focus on the task at hand - folding napkins, wiping tables, getting the restaurant ready for opening - but it was too easy to get distracted by what was happening upstairs. After a while, Fran just got up, went to the door, and hung up the “Sorry, oven’s down again” sign. 

“Maybe it’s all just a big misunderstanding,” Lily ventured. “These things do happen.”

“Or maybe he’s being a brat,” Theo said. “That also happens.”

“Would he be a brat at a time like this, though?” Jarrod asked, glancing between them, Fran, and Dom.

Nobody said yes. Of course they wouldn’t.

“YOU BETTER!” RJ’s voice boomed, rattling the glasses that Lily and Theo had been tidying up. They held their breaths, as they heard the Wolf Master descend the stairs. He was red in the face, and his hair was sticking in all directions - probably from having ran his fingers through it so many times.

“Right,” he said, barely hiding his anger. “That was just campus police on the phone. They went over and chatted to Casey’s roommates, and you know what they said?”

Nobody guessed. Jarrod decided to take one for the team. “What did they say?”

“They said, and I quote, _ The dude’s a free agent, maybe he just hooked up with someone hot and didn’t wanna go to class. _” RJ grinned… or rather, grimaced. “These guys are supposed to look out for each other, have each other’s back, and what happens when one disappears without a trace? Shrugs and stupid jokes!”

His students shared a glance. 

“Did they at least get a sense of when he left?” Lily asked.

“Not a clue. He might as well have vanished into thin air.” RJ slapped his phone on the counter and started pacing. “And the worst part is, because he didn’t list any family as emergency contacts, the school just didn’t bother to get in touch. You’d think a student disappearing is going to be a major problem for them, but nope! Turns out, all they care is the tuition.”

“Okay, let’s not panic,” Dom said, pulling his own phone out. “We can be logical about this. I texted Casey two days ago and he responded to me at 10 in the evening. So he was fine then, at least.”

“I called him yesterday morning,” Jarrod said. “He didn’t pick up, but I assumed he was just tired from keeping watch.”

“I was on guard early last night,” Lily said. “I would have sensed him from the forest, if he was in the dorm.”

“I switched with you at midnight,” Theo finished. “I didn’t sense him either.” 

Silence fell, suffocating on the group.

“He could still have gone to the library,” Fran suggested. “Maybe there was a big test he had to study for and he fell asleep. I used to do that a lot when I was still… studying?” She winced. “Never mind. I’ll just shut up now.”

Dom patted her back. “It’s a fair assumption,” he said. “But Casey would have checked in with us before he went AWOL. He knows he might get called any minute.”

“Precisely,” RJ said. “Which means that, best case scenario, he was gone right before Lily showed up for her watch. He could have been gone between eight to thirty hours, and we just realized that because nobody else worried about him enough to check.”

“Chances are he disappeared at night,” Jarrod interrupted, sensing - as the others did - that RJ was close to losing it. “We could go and look for him. Try to see if we can pick up a trace.”

“If he disappeared at night, chances are that the traces are gone,” RJ muttered. “Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! Why didn’t I insist everyone go in pairs?”

_ Because Casey is an adult and can take care of himself, _ Jarrod thought.

Or, at least, so they had assumed. 

But there was more to these kidnappers than met the eye, and the more Jarrod thought about it, the more he wondered if they weren’t being played for fools. They were, it seemed, too good at predicting their every move. Too good at knowing just where to hit and when they would be at their weakest. 

The suspicion made him cringe inwardly, yet, what could the other options be? He looked around, careful not to be too obvious about it. Flit was not an option - even if he didn’t like and admire RJ as much as he did, he owed Casey more than anybody for his role in Dai Shi’s defeat and the lifting of his curse. The same went for Theo and Lily. They were too devoted to their leader to just turn their backs on him like this. Fran was a wild card, but Fran had had more opportunities to take out any grudge when the rangers were weak or recovering from a battle than anything else. And Dom… Dom was just a good guy. He took on his troubles head on, not using subterfuge or disguise. 

There was always the option that Jarrod was doing something behind the scenes… if there were still parts of his mind that acted without him knowing. But having witnessed the snake monster, and having had his ass kicked by the dino drones… it pretty much ruled that out, even if the idea appealed to his self-destructive side.

Which could only mean one thing.

“RJ,” Jarrod started, “How much do you trust the other Ranger team? I mean, really trust them?”

*

Not a few hours later, Jarrod ran out of Jungle Karma, sporting a split lip and a pretty impressive looking bruise on his eye. He made sure not to run too quickly, going through a handful of crowded streets before getting to the forest where Casey had disappeared. Once there, he slowed down, breathing hard, holding onto his ribs and grimacing.

Dai Shi had hit him harder, but then, Dai Shi had had a lot of time to perfect his torture technique.

Jarrod took a deep breath and watched the world through hazy eyes. It wasn’t hard - all he had to think was all the messes he’d made to stir up the upset. However, he listened. He listened hard.

“Well, well, well… what do we have here?”

He tensed up, and looked right to find a group of Dino Drones.

“Are you lost, little boy?” one of them asked, causing the others to snicker.

“You wish,” Jarrod growled, and clenched his fists. _ Come on, now. Go, go, Lion spirit, or whatever. _

The spirit lay dormant. The drones, meanwhile, attacked him without mercy. 

At least he didn’t freeze this time.

They only fought for a while - long enough for Lily and Theo to show up, long enough for the three to chase them off. Jarrod attempted to morph again, and failed miserably, but the others managed to catch up with one of the drones and pin it down before it could run away completely. 

Unfortunately, before they could interrogate it, the creature did something - a self-destruct sequence, they weren’t sure - but it turned to dust in front of them, scattering in the wind without giving them a single answer.

“Well…” Lily whispered, de-morphing. “Let’s hope that this plan worked.”

*

Camille was almost surprised when Tommy interrupted her “wear them out before dinner” class again. 

Almost.

She’d been on tenterhooks for a while, wondering what the next step would be, or what they could do to take on this elusive master. A long stretch of time without dramatic attacks or raids was suspicious in of itself - combined with their recent victories, though, and it became downright scary. Why would an enemy not take advantage of their recent streak and destroy their opponents completely?

The answer was - they were planning on kidnapping a ranger. And not just any ranger, but the leader of the Ocean Bluff team. And to add insult to injury, they had then found Jarrod and kicked his ass too. 

Hence, contact was allowed yet again.

She thanked Tommy and took the phone to her room. “We need to find a nicer way to chat,” she said, hoping that humor would help.

“Are you alone?” Jarrod asked, voice neutral.

“As alone as I can be,” she said, walking to the window. “Are you okay? How bad is the damage?”

“Pretty bad.” He sighed. “I’m afraid I’ll be scaring small children from now on.”

“That’s hardly a change,” she said. “I still love you, though.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end - the first moment he had displayed a genuine emotion since she picked up the phone - and yet there was still something there, something that made her tense.

“I want to see you,” he whispered. 

“You know we can’t…”

“Please. I need you tonight.”

She bit her lip. She was too far away to just slip out and come back in a night. It had taken her and Dom a full day’s hike to get to the rendez-vous point, and then she had hiked with Elsa for another two by the time she reached the safehouse. She could try teleporting but that was still a pretty big jump.

But…

“I need you too,” she said. “I wish you were here.”

“What makes you think I’m not?”

Camille froze. Walking slowly to the window, she peered into the darkness, trying to discern a familiar shape. But all she could see were the trees and the dusk outside. 

Was it possible?

“Jarrod, what are you—”

“Please, Camille,” he whispered, and then hung up. Like a jerk.

Camille stared at the phone in her hand, shocked. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, she walked back down the stairs and returned the device to Tommy.

“That was fast,” the former ranger said.

“He was in a strange mood, I thought not to encourage it,” she replied. “Want me to take over the class again?”

She went about the rest of her routine that night, not deviating or rushing any step. She took the kids through their drills, then presided over dinner, brushings of teeth, and going to bed. Even after the young ones went to bed, Camille sat with the rest of the team, watching television and generally unwinding after their day. 

It wasn’t until she said she was going out for some fresh air that she deviated.

“Want me to come with you?” Elsa asked, making to stand up from her place at Anton’s side.

“No. I— I just want to be alone for a bit.”

“Don’t let him get to you,” Tommy said. “Whatever it is that he said, it’s not worth losing your peace of mind over.”

“Oh, I’m not going to,” she said, grinning. “Trust me when I say, I am the most dangerous thing in the forest tonight.”

She then went outside and walked straight under the canopy. 

All around her, the air smelled clean and lonely. Like the forest had been undisturbed for centuries, not hours, and Camille was the first human-like thing there. But she knew better than to assume. She, herself, had stood guard many times.

Frowning, she pulled her magic to her and blended in with her surroundings, going deeper into the bush and leaving the safehouse far behind. She had her sai with her, if it came to fighting. And she doubted that Jarrod would have called her out on a secret rendez-vous unless it was absolutely necessary.

As if she’d summoned him with her thoughts, a figure in black appeared in the path, walking straight at her. 

But it wasn’t Jarrod. It was Dom.

*

“So,” she said, after she verified that her visitor was the real Rhino Ranger, “are you going to tell me what this is all about?”

“Sorry,” Dom muttered, shaking off a dead leg. He’d been hiding in the trees, just outside the range of the safe house’s defenses, for several hours. Why could she not have found an excuse to come out sooner? Better yet, why did Jarrod not warn them it would take so long? “I wanted to say something over the phone, but the others were afraid the lines might be tapped.”

“And RJ couldn’t find a way to circumnavigate that?”

“He’s got some technical skills, but he’s no genius,” Dom said. “Anyway, the others thought I’d be the safest to send out, since I’m the one who’s supposed to know where this place is.”

Plus, they’d worried Jarrod and Camille would not stay focused on the task. Not that he would admit that out loud. 

Instead, he told her of their suspicion there was a traitor. “We orchestrated Jarrod getting his ass kicked in order to get a word out to you,” he explained. “We couldn’t think of another way to make sure you knew.”

“Who would do such a thing?” Camille frowned. “Everyone on this team hates the mess we’re in. There’s nothing for them to gain from this.”

“I don’t know, but it’s a little too convenient how they can catch us all off guard. It’s not just them understanding Pai Zhua well - they counter our plans before we even set them in motion. Unless one of the kids is feeding them intel—”

“They would never!”

“—then that means there is someone on the ranger team that is a traitor. RJ trusts everyone on our side - the question is, if everyone here is the same.”

*

Casey woke up in a small, dark room.

At first, he didn’t think much of it - his chamber at Pai Zhua was also tiny and uncomfortable, and it never bothered him. But as time wore on, and his senses slowly came back to him, he realized something was wrong. The air was too stiff. The place was too quiet. It was less like a dormitory and more like a…

…a…

…tomb.

Sitting bolt upright, he felt for a light switch, but a wave of nausea made him double over. There was a sweet smell in the air, too sweet. He couldn’t identify it but it was enough to turn his stomach. 

“Poor little tiger…”

He looked up, trying to identify the source of the noise. All around him was darkness. He felt the floor, finding nothing but soft earth. The wall was clammy and cold and that was about all he could gather. 

“…not a fan of the cage, I see…”

Casey tried summoning the spirit of the tiger. But where there was usually power and warmth, he felt nothing. Not even a lazy yawn. It was worse than that time a Phantom Beast general had stolen his powers.

“Show yourself,” he yelled, feeling stupid and reckless. “If you are a warrior, you will fight me head on.”

“I don’t fight weaklings,” the voice hissed. “I crush them.”

Finally, his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he saw the snake monster, perched high on the wall opposite him. 

“What do you want?” he yelled. If only he gave the impression of being under control, maybe he could provoke his assailants to lose their cool.

“What a strange thing to ask…” the monster muttered, cocking its head to the side. “As if there is so much I desire.”

Casey forced himself to breathe slowly - four seconds in, hold, four seconds out. The more he panicked, the more he gave them what they wanted. 

That was when he realized the monster wasn’t perched on a regular wall. 

He was sat in a mine shaft.

“Who are you?” he whispered, as his stomach dropped.

“Me? A glitch in the system.” The monster grinned, and then pulled something from inside his armor. A long, gray snake.

Casey froze. The reptile slithered down, falling to the ground with a soft hiss.

“Have fun, Tiger Master,” the monster said, readying itself to bound away “Things will only get worse for you from now on.”

*

Camille went back indoors, careful not to raise too much noise.

Elsa was still in the common room.

“Wow,” she said, looking up. “You look all kinds of miserable.”

“Thanks.”

“Still thinking about your boy?”

Camille shrugged. “Well… he’s had a lot on his plate. I think I can cut him a little slack. Just a little, though,” she added, making the other woman smile.

“So long as you’re okay,” she said. “Anton says he’s identified another spot for us to raid tomorrow night. Are you feeling up to it?”

Dominic’s words still ringing in her ears, _ There is a traitor and they are doing everything they can to hide what they are doing _ she ginned and said: “I was born ready for it.”

The Ocean Bluff rangers were expecting her to alert them of the next diversion. But she was going to take this on herself. This time, the fight was hers alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.
> 
> I don't live in the USA. I don't have much of a platform. I'm not able to attend any marches.
> 
> But I want to use whatever platform I have to spread information and help. I have listed a few links and organisations here and at some of my other fics. If my work gives you pleasure, please donate. Sign petitions. Call your elected representatives, if you are in the USA. Keep yourselves informed and alert if you aren't.
> 
> Please. Thank you.
> 
> Organizations, Petitions & Go Fund Me:  
(these links come from Bailey Sarians latest video, she had great links so I'll use the same, go check out her video right here: https://youtu.be/iig8BEP-sOw )  
Color Of Change - https://colorofchange.org/  
Movement For Black Lives - https://m4bl.org/  
NAACP - https://www.naacpldf.org/  
Undocublack -https://undocublack.org/  
Petition for George Floyd - https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?utm_source=brand_us&utm_medium=media  
Minnesota Freedom Fun - https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/  
Reclaim The Block - https://secure.everyaction.com/zae4prEeKESHBy0MKXTIcQ2  
Go Fund Me For George Floyd Family - https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd


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